


without you i’ll never make it out alive

by fireforaheart



Series: as long as i have you [1]
Category: One Direction (Band), Zayn Malik (Musician)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-29
Updated: 2017-09-29
Packaged: 2019-01-06 19:02:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 24,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12217005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fireforaheart/pseuds/fireforaheart
Summary: “So, you’re the spidey guy?”“What?” Zayn says, looking shocked. “I’m not-” Zayn stutters. “I’m not Spider-Man.”“I meant, like.” Niall points to his camera. “You’re the only guy who can get a decent photo.”





	without you i’ll never make it out alive

**Author's Note:**

> first of all! i want to say.. this fic has been three years in the making. some of you may know me as that person on tumblr who made the [spidey ziall gifs](http://niallshoran.tumblr.com/tagged/spideyziall/chrono).. and now i'm here!! 
> 
> shoutout to katelyn for never letting ziall die, and sharon, who i probably annoyed so much with this fic, and kel for giving me the motivation! 
> 
> some quick info: Midtown Science High School (and other variations of the name) and Empire State University are the fictional schools in the Spidey Universe. For reference, Empire State is supposed to be near NYU.

Niall’s the yearbook editor, in charge of the student newspaper, and he’s in student government.

It’s a lot to take on.

With all his commitments he barely had time to do anything junior year. Besides watching Zayn from the sidelines and harboring this massive crush on him for years.

It’s stupid, really. Niall has the impression that Zayn doesn’t even know he exists.

Niall spent a few days a week tutoring younger kids from the nearby schools, and he’d seen Zayn around often, picking up his little sister Safaa. He’d been late sometimes, and Niall always volunteered to stay behind. Still, Niall couldn’t pick up the courage to talk to him.

Until the day Zayn signs up for the student newspaper.

It’s their first day of senior year, and Zayn’s at the meeting. He’s sitting in the middle, and has a camera dangling from the strap around his neck that sits in his lap.

Niall knows Zayn’s a photographer. It’s pretty well known at this point, since he’s the only guy who can get a decent picture of the _Spider-Man_.

Mostly everyone there at the meeting had worked with Niall last year— except all have established roles. Most of the seniors know what to do, and proceed in helping out the juniors who are in the class.

Zayn sort of just sits back, looking back and forth between his camera and the rest of the newspaper staff.

Niall slowly approaches him.

“Hi.” Niall holds his hand out. “Niall. I’m the editor.”

“I know,” Zayn says, shaking his hand. “I voted for you for class president,” he admits.

“Thanks.” Niall tries to keep his cool, and clears his throat. “So, you’re the spidey guy?”

“What?” Zayn says, looking shocked. “I’m not-” Zayn stutters. “I’m not Spider-Man.”

“I meant, like.” Niall points to his camera. “You’re the only guy who can get a decent photo.”

“Thanks?” Zayn’s lips form a slight smile.

“I’ll let you get to work.” Niall’s about to gather up his notes, but he notices Zayn still standing in front of him. “Um, Zayn?” Niall asks.

“Yeah?” Zayn replies back.

“Want me to show you around real quick?” Niall offers.

“That’d be great,” Zayn says, looking relieved.

Niall spends most of the hour giving Zayn a tour of the room. The faculty advisor is usually in the staff room most of the time, so Niall’s got free reign. Zayn’s mostly acquainted with the other students, being in some of the same classes over the last four years.

The last stop is at Niall’s tiny ‘office’ space in the corner. His laptop is open on the desk and there’s a few articles of _The Bugle_ on the screen.

“So you’re really into journalism, then?” Zayn asks Niall, who had been spacing out, staring at his desk.

“It’s a thing I do.” Niall shrugs. “I’m also the yearbook editor.”

“But do you _like_ it?” Zayn prods.

“When I was younger, yeah.” Niall moves past Zayn to sit at his desk. “It was sort of like, my way of keeping tabs on my dad, I guess.”

“Your dad?” Zayn asks.

“Yeah,” Niall sighs. “He works for the NYPD” 

“I’ll-” Zayn starts, but he gets interrupted by the school’s bell. Time to go to class.

Niall packs up his laptop, and Zayn’s still there, putting his camera away in his bag.

“See you tomorrow?” Zayn asks.

“Yeah, see you tomorrow.” Niall nods. 

\--

The first week of school goes by a little too quickly. He doesn’t get to talk to Zayn much, since they needed to rush the first edition of the student newspaper. Niall had been too busy being flooded with questions from the juniors, and reading over every aspect of the paper before it got sent to the printer. 

In the grand scheme of things, the student newspaper at Midtown Science isn’t really that important. It’s important to Niall, but he wonders how many students actually pick up a copy and read it. Niall thinks it’s mostly parents, just to keep tabs on the school. Niall had the initiative to launch an online edition the year before, which landed him the editor job in the first place.

Niall works with his web team, making sure that the look of it closely matches what their print edition should look like. Niall’s looking over everyone’s shoulders, and taking a quick peek at their computer screens.

He sent Zayn off with someone to get pictures of the cafeteria for another student’s piece, so Niall didn’t get to talk to him at all that period. They have English together, but Niall’s usually distracted by Liam and Louis.  
  
On the first day, he tried to sit next to Zayn, but Liam was waving at Niall so enthusiastically that he had to sit next to him.

They don’t have assigned seats, so Niall’s free to move if he wants. He usually sits by the back window with Liam and Louis, while Zayn is towards the middle. Niall gets a good view of Zayn most of the time, and finds himself getting distracted when he should be paying attention.

English isn’t that hard of a class for him, and for the most part is a breeze. If there’s any class he really needed to be paying attention to, it was physics.

Physics was Niall’s way of taking a course that included science and math. It freed up his schedule, and allowed him to take a free period. Niall already fulfilled most of his high school requirements, and between all of his school activities it was a good balance.

It turns out, Niall’s not great at physics at all. They had a pop quiz yesterday, and Niall’s pretty sure he’s the only one in the class who failed it. Even though he’s Midtown Science student, Niall is _awful_ at all things related to science and math.  

After the bell rings, his teacher asks him to stay after class. It’s never a good thing, and it’s most likely going to be about the quiz. It’s only the first week of school, and Niall needs this one class to graduate. He can’t drop it.

“I know,” Niall says, before his teacher can even say anything. “Physics isn’t a strong area.”  
  
“There’s another student of mine, he used to be a tutor and I asked him today if he’d help you,” Mrs. Martinez tells him. “If you’re interested.”  
  
“Yeah.” Niall nods. “I’m interested.” Niall tries not to sound too desperate, but he really doesn’t want to struggle in this class the entire year.

“Here he is,” Mrs. Martinez says, looking towards the door.

Niall follows her glance, and that’s when Niall sees him. His mystery tutor is Zayn.

“Hey, Niall.” Zayn smiles.

“You two know each other?” Mrs. Martinez asks. 

“Yeah.” Zayn nods. “We have first period together.”  
  
“How convenient,” Mrs. Martinez says. “Well, I’ll let you two go off to your next class.”  
  
Niall gives Mrs. Martinez his thanks, and he follows Zayn right out into the hallway. There’s less students now, given that they only have a few minutes to get to their last class of the day.  
  
“Are you busy today, after school?” Zayn asks. “We could do a session today.”  
  
“Yeah, I’m free.” Niall nods. “I’ll meet you outside our first period classroom.”

\--

Niall walks home alone most days. Since he agreed to to meet Zayn, he’s waiting outside the classroom now, shifting his books in his hands. The physics textbook is thick and heavy, while his reading for English is fairly light.

He thinks about what Zayn asked before, if Niall liked journalism, or being the editor. Niall already applied early acceptance for Empire State, and his teachers, counselors, and friends keep telling him there’s no way he wouldn’t get accepted.  
  
So, it’s like Niall’s got his life planned out for the next four years or so.

That’s if he goes to college.

His thoughts are finally interrupted when he sees Zayn walking down the hallway. Niall notices that Zayn doesn’t wear his glasses anymore, and tries to remember if he was wearing them earlier.

“Did you get contacts?” Niall blurts out.

“Uh, yeah,” Zayn replies. “It feels kind of weird.”  
  
“You look good either way,” Niall blurts out again, and nearly drops his books. He really needs to learn how to filter his words.  

They end up studying in the school library, since it’s open for an hour after school. There isn’t much homework Niall needs to go over, and they both agreed that it would be dumb to waste time traveling somewhere when they could get work done here.

Zayn’s walking Niall through his first week of lessons, going over what he learned that week in greater detail. Niall’s grasp on the subject still isn’t that great, but hearing Zayn explain it is starting to make more sense. 

Niall sighs, and starts writing out his notes again. Physics isn’t really interesting to him at all, and he’s starting to get tired.

“Am I going too fast?” Zayn asks, sounding a bit worried.

“No, you’re fine,” Niall reassures him. “I’m just really bad at this.”

“You’ll get there,” Zayn tells him.  

“You make it seem so easy,” Niall says, trying his best not to sound frustrated.

“I’m planning on majoring in biophysics at Empire State University,” Zayn replies, and Niall knows he’s not doing it to brag. “You can always tell me if I need to repeat something.”  
  
“Thanks,” Niall smiles. He’s not having too much trouble following now, so in the future he hopes that he won’t have to ask Zayn to repeat it a million times.

They start to go over Niall’s homework problems together, and Niall manages to do two problems on his own before Zayn has to give Niall a little bit of help on the other questions. The tutoring has helped a lot, and Niall breathes in a sigh of relief when they finally close the physics textbook.

Niall’s been so focused on his physics homework, he never realized how close Zayn was sitting next to him. They’re both the only two left in the library now, and Zayn moves to get up. Niall watches as he packs his bag, and carefully sets his camera on the table.

“I thought you might study photography or something, at school,” Niall says, looking at Zayn’s camera. It’s probably a common assumption, because his name is already all over _The Bugle_ ’s photos.

“Photography's just my hobby.” Zayn says, hanging the strap around his neck. “I’m looking to get an internship at Styles Industries.”

“I’m planning on going to Empire State too,” Niall tells him. “You can probably already guess my major.”  
  
“Journalism?” Zayn guesses with ease.

“Applied early acceptance.” Niall nods. 

“Same here.” Zayn smiles. “I hope you get in.”  
  
“You too.” Niall smiles back.  

Zayn and Niall say their goodbyes, and part ways in different directions when they leave the library. Niall didn’t ask him if he had any other plans, and kind of regrets not taking the opportunity for not making more small talk.

Niall sticks his headphones into his ear, and blasts his music. There’s no point in moping over it now, and he always has class tomorrow to get another chance to talk to Zayn.

\--

Niall goes to the guitar shop after school the next day, talking to some of the customers while Ed is ringing someone up at the register.

He knows so much that at this point it’s like he’s working for him for free. Niall goes there often, maybe two or three times a week after school. Ed’s family has owned the shop for several years, and Niall remembers constantly asking his brother if he would take him there.  

Niall’s continues chatting to some of the customers, giving them some guitar tips and recommending that their kids take lessons from Ed. Niall wishes he had the time to teach lessons himself, but that’ll have to wait until another day.

The shop isn’t that busy today, but a few people come in by the sound of the bell ringing at the door. Niall doesn’t notice it right away, but now he realizes he shouldn’t have turned his back. 

It happens too suddenly. A masked robber comes into the shop with a gun and everyone’s scared to a standstill.

Ed starts emptying out the register the moment he points the gun right at him. Niall wishes he could do something, anything.

And then—

Spider-Man comes in. 

With a few quick shots of his web, the gun’s stuck to the ceiling and the robber is webbed to the back of the door. Everyone’s still a bit shaken, but Spider-Man talks to all of them to make sure they’re okay. Niall’s grip on one of the guitars is so tight, he didn’t even notice his fist go white.

“You okay there?” Spider-Man asks, taking the guitar out of Niall’s hand.

“‘M fine,” Niall manages to get out.

Niall can barely look the guy in the eyes. Or the mask. Niall almost saw one of his friends die. He worries enough every day about whether or not he’s going to get a call about his dad.

The police come, and to Niall’s relief his dad isn’t one of the cops who shows up. One of his friends is, though. 

John, one of his dad’s best friends, offers to take Niall home, but Niall’s too stubborn to say yes and walks home in the dark by himself. He’s done it a thousand times, and today shouldn’t be any different, but it is.

Niall goes to school the next morning drained of energy. When he got home he threw himself into his homework and passed out before his dad even came home from work.

The yearbook kids are mostly quiet, giving Niall his space. He’s sitting alone at his desk wondering if he has a ‘do not disturb’ sign taped to his forehead.

Niall slumps over his desk and rests his head for a moment, closing his eyes and thinking about skipping the rest of the school day.

 _Thump._ Niall hears the sound, and barely twitches. He hears the chair move right next to him, wheels squeaking as they get closer.

“You’re the talk of the town again.” Zayn nudges his shoulder. “Sorry, by the way. I know how hard it is.”

Niall reacts instantly, opening his eyes to meet Zayn’s. He must have a confused expression on his face, because Zayn goes ahead and fills in the blanks. 

“Two years ago my uncle got shot outside a bodega,” Zayn tells him. “He tried to stop a robber.”

“I’m so sorry.” Niall moves one of his hands and reaches out, touching Zayn’s hands. “I had no idea, I can’t even imagine.”

“I can’t change what happened,” Zayn says, shrugging it off. “But if you ever need to talk...”

“Yeah,” Niall nods. “Definitely.”

Niall is still touching Zayn’s hand. Zayn hasn’t moved away, and Niall manages to form a small smile.

“Do you still volunteer at the middle school nearby?” Zayn asks, finally breaking the silence.

“No, I had to stop.” Niall shakes his head. “My senior year load got too busy.”

“Ah,” Zayn says with a frown. “That must explain why Safaa isn’t so happy about tutoring anymore. She always talked about you.”

“Really?” Niall grins. He really misses volunteering.

“Yeah, every time I’d come home she’d be like ‘Niall this, Niall that’ and ‘Niall’s so cool,’” Zayn puts on a voice, presumably imitating his sister’s. “So I had to see what all the fuss was about.”

“So?” Niall presses.

“So, what?” Zayn shoots back.

“Do I live up to the hype?” Niall asks.

On cue, like always, the bell rings. Another end to the once a day, Niall and Zayn newspaper session.

They walk out of the classroom together. They have English next, and both of them actually walk to class together for once. The class is on the second floor, so Niall takes his time going up the stairs, and Zayn matches his pace.

“Um, I gotta admit,” Zayn finally speaks, not looking directly at Niall. “I joined the newspaper because of you.”  
  
“Really?” Niall stops just outside the classroom, feeling his face get warm.

“I was wondering, if you weren’t busy,” Zayn bites his lip. “If you wanted to—”

“Niall!” Liam shouts from inside the classroom. Which is great timing. Niall is going to have a _word_ with Liam later. “Come sit with us!”

Niall shoots Liam a look that he hopes says _You’re Dead_ , while Louis, sitting on Liam’s right, just laughs at the whole situation.

“Sorry about my friends,” Niall rolls his eyes. “Do you want to sit with me today?”

Zayn nods, and follows Niall into the classroom. Niall has noticed that Zayn usually sits in the middle, while his usual seat is by the window with his _two rude friends._

As they sit down, Liam shoots him a confused look. Niall shrugs. Liam can deal with it later.

“You have independent study later, right?” Zayn asks.

“Yeah, why?” Niall replies.

“You want to get lunch?” Zayn asks.

“Sure, I’d love to,” Niall says, smiling brightly at Zayn.

After that, Niall finds it difficult to focus in English. His leg is bobbing up and down, and Zayn seems so focused on the discussion. Niall did the reading, and every time the teacher begins to make eye contact with him, he does his best to get out of talking for the discussion. He’s lucky he’s not being graded today.  
  
Niall taps his pencil against his notebook, and starts to listen to the class discussion. By the end of class, Niall managed to get a few words out, and even started a bit of a debate between his classmates. When the teacher moves on to the next part of her lecture, Niall starts tuning out again.  
  
He’s pretty sure that the rest of the class feel exhausted on the subject, but continue to pretend to be listening. Niall feels himself nod in and out, and barely notices when class ends.

Liam and Louis come shuffling over, plopping their textbooks on Niall’s desk to wake him up.

“You better hurry, or you’re going to be late helping Ed with that guitar seminar,” Louis reminds him.

“Ah, fuck.” Niall shakes his head. He’s had too much on his mind lately, he forgot that he was supposed to help Ed out during his free period.

“Zayn,” Niall is immediately regretting this. He’s had his shot with Zayn, and he keeps screwing it up. “I’m sorry, I forgot I promised my friend I’d help him.”

Zayn’s suddenly alert, as if he heard a police siren outside the school. Zayn plays it off cool, and gives Niall a small smile.

“It’s fine, something came up with one of my sisters,” Zayn tells him.

“Another time?” Niall questions.

“Another time.” Zayn nods.

Niall leaves, but tries to pack up as slowly as he can before Liam and Louis rush him out of there to get him to the guitar seminar in the auditorium on time.

Liam’s bombarding Niall with a billion questions, and Niall’s a little too annoyed to answer any of them.

“Liam, man, you messed up Niall’s big chance with Zayn!” Louis exclaims.

“What?” Liam says cluelessly.

“Young Liam here needs a refresher,” Louis says, grabbing Liam’s shoulders. “We’ll see you later, Niall.”

“Bye.” Niall lets a laugh out as he waves, and watches as Louis almost knocks Liam over in a failed piggy-back attempt.

Niall gets to the auditorium, and Ed’s already there. The stage is set up with a big circle of chairs, and Niall’s guitar is set up for him.

The rest of the students begin to pile in. Mostly middle schoolers from nearby. He recognizes a few as the students he tutored, but the one next to him immediately stands out.

“Niall!” Safaa walks right up to him, and greets him with a hug. She starts going on about her new tutor, and how much better Niall is. Niall nods along and picks up his guitar, and once she’s done, she takes a seat right next to him.

Ed’s mostly leading the seminar, while Niall helps out here and there. The seminar is Ed’s thing for a project, and Niall offered to lend a hand.

Niall walks around the circle, helping the kids out on where to place their hands and give a few words of encouragement.

As Niall moves across the stage, he notices Zayn sitting in one of the seats in the auditorium. Niall gives him a quick little wave before returning back to the students.

The seminar goes smoothly, and at the end, the kids all play a Justin Bieber song, at most of the students’ requests.

Niall and Ed wrap up, giving the students some more advice and begin to pack up all the guitars. Most of these are on loan from Ed’s shop, since they also do music rentals. 

Just as Niall’s ready to leave, he notices that Safaa and Zayn stayed around for a bit. Zayn waves for him to come over.

As Niall approaches Zayn, Safaa leaves. Niall doesn’t know where, but from what Niall can tell she probably went back to her class.

“Hey,” Zayn calls. “That was cool today.”

“Thanks,” Niall says shyly. “It was all Ed, though. Set up the whole thing. I just tagged along.” He shrugs.

“I noticed.” Zayn raises an eyebrow. “Are you guys...?”

Niall looks at him for a moment, thinking. With Zayn’s awkward hand gesture going on, he can only assume the _one_ thing Zayn’s asking.

“Dating?” Niall drops his jaw for dramatic effect. “You serious?”

“Uh, you guys just seemed close,” Zayn laughs.

“We’ve been friends for a long time. He’s like my brother.” Niall’s laughter grows louder. “He owns the guitar shop.”

“Listen, about earlier,” Zayn starts. “Before we were so rudely interrupted by your friend?”

“Oh, Liam, yeah.” Niall nods. “Louis’ taking care of it.”

“Would you like to go out with me sometime?” Zayn blurts out in one big jumble.

“Like a date?” Niall asks, for clarification.

“Definitely like a date,” Zayn says with confidence, now. “I gotta run right now though, so call me?”

“I’ll call you.” Niall beams.

\-- 

Niall stays at his mom’s place on the weekends. He tells himself it’s out of convenience, but really it’s mostly because his brother really prefers Theo stay at their mom’s while he babysits.

Niall’s mom was out for the week on vacation of her own, with Niall’s stepdad. She’s a big, hot-shot lawyer who lives in a fancy building. To an outsider it may seem like his dad got the short end of the stick, but their divorce was entirely amicable. That’s what everyone’s told him, at least. He was far too young to remember the divorce at all.

The truth is, Niall prefers his dad’s apartment. It’s home, and it’s cozy. Niall’s room is decorated to his tastes, with newspaper clippings and photos scattered across the wall.

His room at his mom’s place is bare. The walls are some snotty shade of eggshell, and a white desk with a desktop computer his mom bought for him.

Niall and his mom have had a good relationship, but he never enjoyed staying over at his mom’s.

It’s 8pm now, and Theo’s fast asleep. Niall can hardly believe how big he is now, and how much time has already passed.

Two months into his senior year. It’s too much to even think about the future.

But for now, Niall settles for the little things.

He closes the door to his room to make sure Theo won’t wake up from the noise. Zayn had said to call him earlier, but he never said when. Niall’s going to take that chance now. Niall takes a deep breath, and hits the call button next to Zayn’s name in his contacts list.

Zayn picks up after a few rings, but Niall’s hearing too much wind. Which is strange— since there’s barely a breeze coming through his cracked open window.

“Zayn? Are you there?” Niall asks hopefully.

“Yeah,” Zayn replies. He sounds out of breath, almost winded. “Can you hang on a sec?”

Before Niall can reply, the phone goes quiet. Until he hears the sound of the wind again. He hears muffled voices, and a couple of loud thumps here or there.

“I hope this isn’t a bad time,” Niall says into the phone. 

“No,” Zayn says, still sounding breathless. “Five minutes, hang on.”

Another strange noise happens. It sounds like clattering, as if Zayn’s dropped his phone on the ground. He can hear the sounds of New York in the background, of cars driving by and a police siren in the distance. All slightly muffled over the phone.

“Niall?” Zayn finally replies. “Are you still there?”

“Yeah,” Niall replies, trying his best to hide his nervousness. “Sorry if it was a bad time.”

“No, not at all.” Zayn says, still catching his breath. “I was kind of jogging to catch my train.”

“About that date...”

“Are you busy tomorrow night?” Zayn asks, not even hesitating.

“No, tomorrow’s perfect,” Niall tells him.

“Great. I’ll text you where to meet.”

\--

Niall’s freaking out about his date with Zayn.  
  
Actually, freaking out is an understatement. Niall has no clue where they’re going, or what they’re doing. Niall panics. What should he wear? What should he bring? Should he even bring anything at all? Should he ask Zayn?

Niall texts all of these to his group chat with Liam and Louis. As always, they’re no help at all, with the goofiest suggestions.

Liam: wear a banana suit haha

Louis: with orange shoes

Niall: im never talking to u guys again

Louis: oh no niall

Niall’s pretty sure he’s had a crush on Zayn ever since he asked to borrow one of his pens in freshmen English class. Niall always noticed Zayn doodling in the edges of his notes, and after class, Niall just told him to keep the pen.  

It’s never worked out before, time wise. Niall always thought Zayn barely even knew who he was, but it turns out he was paying attention all along.

Niall always had to build up the courage to even say a ‘Hi,’ or ‘What’s up?’ during freshmen English. Until one day, Niall noticed most of Zayn’s attention was elsewhere— he’d gotten a new girlfriend, Perrie Edwards.

Niall wasn’t that jealous. (Louis insists that he was really jealous... So maybe Louis was a teeny bit right.) She’s in a cool girl band that does gigs everywhere, and Niall can’t even get anyone to let him play his guitar other than at a school event that he organized. (Not that he’s done that either; Niall thinks he would die of nerves.)

Like all other high school relationships, they seem to grow apart towards the end of their sophomore year. By this point, Niall had distracted himself with so many extra activities, like soccer, the student newspaper, and student council.

Now, he’s here. About to go on a date with Zayn. And he’s barely even dressed.

Niall’s still at his mom’s, where most of his nicer clothes are. His closet is neatly organized compared to the mess at his dad’s. His mom had insisted on one of those California closet organizers, and he’s pretty sure his mom comes in when he’s gone to organize it.

He decides on a nice, thin sweater with dark jeans, his favorite pair of boots and a dark green jacket that is right for the October weather. It’s colder most nights, but mostly bearable for Niall during this time of year.

Niall texted him his address earlier, and told Zayn he’d meet him in the lobby. His brother is there, and he certainly does not want this to be one of the times where Greg decides to act like a protective brother when he never has.

He’s waiting in the lobby downstairs, on one of the plush red couches. It’s distracting, and Niall’s leg is bobbing up and down again. He’s excited and nervous. It’s been a while since Niall had been on a date with anyone— and he really wants tonight with Zayn to go really well.

Niall’s too busy swimming in his own thoughts, he doesn’t even notice Zayn enter the building. Zayn’s already halfway to Niall, and Niall stands up to meet him halfway.

Niall wonders if he’s nervous too. He notices Zayn’s hand shake a little, but doesn’t know if that’s because of him or because of Niall’s weird doorman.

“Hey,” Zayn says, smiling at him.

“Hey,” Niall replies cooly.

“Let’s head out.” Zayn motions back towards the door.

Without saying another word, Niall follows him outside.

They don’t hold hands, but every once in a while their shoulders will bump and brush against each other. Niall almost wants to reach out, but he doesn’t want to freak him out on the first date.

Zayn dominates most of the conversation, telling Niall stories about his wild job at _The Daily Bugle_. It’s mostly about how angry Jameson gets whenever Zayn insists Spider-Man is a good guy.

“How do you get all the photos, anyway?” Niall asks, steering the conversation away from Zayn’s high-strung editor.

“What do you mean?” Zayn asks for clarification.

“You know that time I, uh,” Niall pauses. “Got held up in a store?”  
  
“Yeah,” Zayn nods.  

“Spider-Man was there and he left before the cops even showed up.” Niall’s going through the details, from what he can remember. Most of the reports do say that Spider-Man doesn’t stick around for too long after busting a bad guy.

“So, I rule out police radios being one of the reasons why you know where he is,” Niall deduces.

“Go on,” Zayn encourages him. “Tell me all your theories.”  
  
“Uh,” Niall laughs. “That’s sort of all I got, for now.”

“Can’t let you in on my trade secret,” Zayn jokes. “Or else I’d be out of the job.”  
  
“That’s fair,” Niall says, not pushing it any further. He’ll figure it out sooner or later.

“Hey, we’re here,” Zayn says, pointing at a restaurant. There’s nothing particularly special about this place, except for the fact that Niall knows Louis always orders takeout from here.

“This is Louis’ favorite Chinese place,” Niall says, looking at Zayn.

“We’re not eating here.” Zayn walks towards the alleyway, and at this point, Niall is really confused.

“Where are you going?” Niall half-yells.

“We’re going up the fire escape,” Zayn says casually.

“Um,” Niall mumbles. He’s never really gone up a firescape before. He’s watched Louis and Liam do it several times, on higher buildings, but this restaurant is only two stories high.

“You’re not going to fall, I promise,” Zayn says earnestly.

“Okay, I trust you.” Niall gulps.

Zayn pushes Niall up first, since Niall can’t jump that high on his own. Zayn follows, and manages to pull the ladder down a little further.

Zayn guides him every step of the way. When they’re close to the top, Zayn covers Niall’s eyes.

“Zayn?” Niall tries to move his hands, but Zayn’s too strong for him.

“Okay.” Zayn laughs. “One, two, three.” Zayn moves his hands, and Niall can see the roof of the restaurant. There’s christmas lights around the top, and from what Niall can tell, a mini, makeshift golf course.

Niall loves golf. After his knee surgery, he had to quit the soccer team and picked up golf. The school didn’t have a team, and the only time Niall played on his own was during the summers he spent with his mom in the Hamptons.

“How did you—”

“Know that you like golf?” Zayn finishes the sentence for him. “Louis and Liam sort of ambushed me after school, and started telling me about how if I ever broke your heart, they’d kill me. After that whole speech, they gave me advice.”  
  
“Wow,” Niall says, surprised. “I thought they were trying to sabotage my date earlier.”

“The opposite.” Zayn laughs. “Anyway, my aunt is friends with the owner here, and I actually built this last year.”  

Zayn grabs one of the golf clubs perched against an old picnic table, and hands it to Niall.  
  
“Let’s see if you’re as good as Louis and Liam say.”  

Zayn isn’t that bad, but it’s mini golf. It’s a fun course with all of these crazy obstacles that Zayn put together with stuff he’s found all over the city.

After endless conversation, they joke around for a bit. Niall sets down the golf club and starts kicking the balls in. After a few tries, he starts purposely dropping the ball right into the hole when Zayn’s not looking.

“Another hole in one?” Zayn pretends to make another mark on Niall’s sheet. “Keep this up and you’ll be golfing in the Olympics.”

After they finish the course, Zayn goes down (by using the regular stairs, that Zayn had forgotten to even mention. Niall guesses the fire escape was a part of the surprise). He brings back a pizza and some water bottles, and the two sit at the old picnic table by the edge. The view isn’t that high up, and Niall watches as people walk by on the street.

“So, I’ve told you all about my sisters.” Zayn looks at him with deep interest. “What about you? Siblings?”

“Just one. A Brother.” Niall shrugs. “He’s seven years older than me, and he has a kid.”

“The one you babysit, right?” Zayn interjects. “Theo?” 

“Yeah, that’s him.” Niall sighs. “But I didn’t really grow up with Greg, since he went with my mom after the divorce.”

“Oh,” Zayn says, and pushes his plate of pizza to the side, forgotten. 

“It’s not bad.” Niall picks the toppings off his pizza, unsure of what to even say now. “My mom’s got all this money so I’ve never really...”

“Ah,” Zayn nods. “Money.” 

“I must seem like some dumb rich kid.” Niall groans.

“Just a little bit,” Zayn jokes, easing the tension. “Tell me about your dad,” Zayn tells him.

“He’s pretty laid back when we’re at home.” Niall mimics leaning back in a reclining chair to emphasize his point, and then resumes sitting straight. “NYPD is a pretty high stress job, but I’m kind of over the fact he uses it as an excuse to stay single.”

“Has he since...?”

“My mom?” Niall shakes his head. “No.”

Niall’s dad doesn’t date, ever. He’s more reserved than Niall is, but dating could also introduce more stress into his life, so maybe it’s a bad idea. 

“I mean,” Niall goes on. “He’s pretty happy. He’s got his friends, and he’s good at his job.”

“I get that.” Zayn nods. “My aunt hasn’t since my uncle...” Zayn doesn’t mention his death, but moves on. “She’s got a lot of great people surrounding her.”

“What about your parents?” Niall asks, and immediately after he regrets that he let it slip. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked that.”

“It’s fine,” Zayn reassures him. “I mean, everyone knows, but…” He trails off. “It doesn’t come up as much anymore.”

They’re quiet for a bit, and both of them take a moment to actually eat their pizza. Niall’s has gone a bit cold already, but he doesn’t mind.

“Zayn?” Niall stops picking at his pizza, and bumps Zayn’s shoulder again.

Zayn stops, and looks right at Niall.

“I’m probably about to embarrass myself, but.” Niall wants to look away from Zayn’s gaze, but he doesn’t. “I’ve liked you ever since you asked to borrow a pen on our first day of high school.”

Niall forgets about ever being embarrassed at all.

“I always thought you didn’t like me.” Zayn says, laughing with his whole body. “When you said I could keep the pen, I thought you were mad at me.”

“I was really shy!” Niall says, laughing back.

They stay on the roof for a bit, just talking. They sit closer together as it gets colder, and Niall can feel Zayn’s body heat radiating against him. It’s nice.

After a while, Niall realises it’s probably too late, and at some point, the date unfortunately has to end.

Zayn walks Niall home. New York is never quiet, but the both of them are content to walk back without any more conversation.

After two blocks, Zayn casually takes hold of Niall’s hand, and Niall smiles so hard that his cheeks begin to hurt.

When they approach Niall’s building, Niall says it would probably be best if they avoid the doorman. He’s just weird, and Niall doesn’t want him to gossip to his brother.

“Goodnight.” Niall squeezes Zayn’s hand, and lets go. He starts turning his body towards the building, but Zayn grabs his hand again and Niall turns back around.

“Goodnight.”

Zayn’s moving in closer, and Niall can feel Zayn’s hands on both sides of his face.

Their lips meet, and Niall pulls him in even closer. It’s like they’ve both been waiting for this moment forever, and Niall can feel Zayn’s heart beating through his chest.

They break apart after what seems like ages, and Zayn presses one last kiss against his forehead.

“Goodnight,” Zayn repeats.

\--

People won’t stop talking at school on Monday, but not because of Zayn and Niall’s date.

Apparently a new student enrolled at Midtown Science, and it’s the son of the CEO of Styles Industries. After the various boarding schools he’s been expelled from, Midtown Science seemed like the next best public school.

There’s a lot of whispering, and Niall stands by his locker and drowns out all the conversation. He grabs his books for class, and shuts his locker a little harder than he would’ve liked.

“Hi,” someone says from behind him. “I heard you were the guy to talk to about joining the student newspaper.”

Niall turns around, and barely recognizes the guy from various newspapers and tabloids he’s seen on the street. It’s _the_ Harry Styles.

“Yeah, I’m the guy.” Niall nods. “But, uh,” Niall says, scratching his head. “I don’t mean to be rude, but the class is filled so no one else can join.” Niall shrugs.

“Oh, that’s fine.” Harry says, voice not wavering. “How about yearbook?”

“Yearbook’s still got some spaces open if you’re interested. You can change your schedule and sign up if you want,” Niall tells him.

“Cool.” Harry nods. “I’m Harry, by the way.”

“Niall.” He smiles at Harry, and checks the clock. He has to be in with the newspaper in two minutes, so he waves goodbye at Harry.

When he gets to class, Harry is still the big subject. Niall gets three different people coming up to him and asking if they can do a social feature on Harry. Niall has no objections, but they’d have to ask Harry himself first.

“You picked anyone for the Styles piece?” Zayn asks, leaning on the edge of Niall’s desk.

“Ugh,” Niall sighs. “Not you too.”

“I may have a connection...” Zayn pauses, and holds up his phone. It’s an old picture, and Niall can assume it’s Zayn as a kid, and... Harry.

“You know Harry?” Niall asks, surprised.

“Uh, yeah,” Zayn says, as if it’s whatever. “My dad used to work closely with his dad, before my parents died.” Zayn slips his phone back into his pocket. “We were best friends.”

“There might be a conflict of interest,” Niall shrugs. “If Harry says yes, you can do it.”

“I’ll ask him,” Zayn replies, and goes back off to work.  
  
The next edition is due by the end of the week, and everyone is working on their deadlines to get it to Niall in time to arrange the copyediting. Niall’s busy answering questions, and checking on all the different newspaper teams. He feels like he’s running around the room, and by the end of class he has to run back to his desk to grab his stuff.  

The worst part of today is that no one can stop talking about the new student. Niall only knows two things about Harry, and everyone kept getting distracted talking about the rumors of why he got expelled from his last school. Niall has no interest or care, but he has already told off enough people for gossiping and not doing their work.

Niall’s a little on edge already, and when the bell rings he takes his stuff and leaves right away. In the heat of the moment, he forgot to wait for Zayn, who had jogged down the hallway to meet Niall before they went upstairs.

He gets the feeling that Zayn can sense he’s a bit annoyed today, and doesn’t bring up the article again. Niall had already given it to Zayn, and pretty much announced that people should stop asking Niall about it.

Niall gets through the rest of the day by leaving the building during his free period and lunch. He grabs a quick bite to eat with Zayn before he leaves to go do whatever Zayn does during free period. Niall’s never asked, but Zayn will probably tell him eventually.  
  
The weather is pretty decent today, so Niall sits out on the soccer field doing his homework. No one's there to bother him, and he guesses that everyone is in the cafeteria trying to crowd at Harry’s table, which he doesn’t really want to witness.

When the bell rings, Niall makes his way to his next class walking as slowly as possible. The day isn’t going to go by any faster and Niall still feels too annoyed by the world today.

Niall manages to get through a physics lesson without getting lost, which is a huge accomplishment. He and Zayn haven’t had time for another tutoring session, but Niall’s starting to get a better grasp on the subject as the weeks go by. 

He’s the first out the door once the bell rings. Niall’s just trying to make it through this one day, and he’s already dreading his last class. Eleanor is the one who is in charge of the yearbook, so it’s a nice change of pace from the newspaper. Niall guesses that class is going to be a bit stressful today, especially since Harry probably signed up for it.

By the time he gets to his next classroom, everyone is already off task and gathering around Harry, asking him questions. Niall thinks that it’s getting old already.

He slumps down in one of the empty seats, and waits for the computer to wake up. Eleanor is already going around assigning tasks to people, and she assigns Niall a few of the clubs to create pages for. Niall gets engrossed in his work, completely ignoring the people who are still bothering Harry.

Louis and Liam come over halfway through class, and they take a small ten minute break to chat for a bit since he didn’t see them at lunch. Apparently while Niall was gone today, Harry sat at their table and now Louis and Liam have invited him to their trip to New Jersey they were planning.

Niall goes with it, trying not to seem to upset. He was planning on inviting Zayn anyways, and maybe they’ll all be good friends at that point.

When school is finally over, Niall immediately takes off and heads home, giving everyone the excuse of how tired he is. Niall hates feeling cranky, and once he gets home he figures sleeping it off might do him some good.

\--

It’s Wednesday already, and Niall hasn’t really had the chance to talk to Zayn because of class and all the work they have to do. Sometimes, it really sucks being the editor, because Niall actually has to get all his work done.

He’s walking to the sandwich shop just two blocks from school, and he sees Zayn in front of the shop. They both have independent study before lunch, and Niall sometimes buys something off-campus to bring for Liam and Louis.

“Hey, I didn’t know you go here too.” Zayn holds up a plastic bag that’s as long as his sub. “Best sandwiches in New York.”

“The best,” Niall agrees. They’re both in front of the shop, and Niall assumes that Zayn’s probably going to be doing whatever he does during independent study. Niall hasn’t asked.

  
There’s an awkward silence, and Zayn opens the door for Niall to enter the sandwich shop. Niall goes in, and Zayn actually follows him inside. There’s a short line, but Niall’s fine waiting. He’s not in a rush to get back to school, anyway.  

“So, do want to hang out at my place on Friday? Maybe watch a movie?” Niall asks. “I’ll be at my mom’s.”

“Yeah, that’d be cool.” Zayn nods.

The silence doesn’t feel awkward anymore, and Zayn waits in line with Niall. He wonders if they’ll get to eat lunch together this time.

It takes another five minutes before Niall is finally at the cashier, ordering his usual that he gets whenever he comes here. He takes out his wallet to pay the guy, and turns around to check on Zayn, but he’s gone.

Niall tries not to get too sad over it. They’re going to hang out on Friday, and they’ll see each other in class. He’s still a little bummed, and decides to stick it out and just eat his sandwich at the shop. Liam and Louis can complain later and get their own food.

Niall takes the long route back to school. It’s not exactly a scenic route, just buildings and more buildings. It seems like it’s any other, normal day, until he can hear someone yelling from behind telling him to run.

There’s more people coming down the street, a few cars stopping because of the traffic that’s suddenly piled up. 

There’s another scream, and then an explosion.  
  
Niall doesn’t even think about it, and he starts running. He can feel other people trying to push past him, and he tries to keep up, but his knee starts to hurt. Niall feels like he’s getting left behind, and some asshole actually pushes him over—no one even seems to notice or care.  

Niall must’ve hit his head on the sidewalk, because when he touches his forehead he can feel blood trailing down the side of his face. Niall can hear the screams getting louder, and the shouts from people to keep moving on the street. Niall can barely even crawl to move out of the way of running pedestrians.

He leans his back against a lamp post, and manages to take his sweater off and holds it to his forehead. The cut on his forehead isn’t that big, but Niall hopes that the bleeding will stop so he can get up and leave.

Niall fumbles with his phone in his pocket, trying to call his dad. Of course, he doesn’t answer. He tries to get back up again, but he feels another sharp pain in his knee. He can’t get back up by himself.

There are people still running past him, which probably means that whatever it is, whatever’s attacking the city, is coming down this path. Niall tries to even his breathing. He thinks he’s probably crying now, but the pain in his knee aches so bad he can’t think. He might die here.

The screaming seems to slow down now, and Niall begins to hear claps and shouts. Niall hears people chanting Spider-Man’s name in the distance. The chants seem to fade out, and Niall watches as a car gets thrown past him. It’s on the other side of the street. Sensing the urgency, Niall starts trying to crawl his way to safety.

He turns around again, just to check. Another car is flying this way, and Niall closes his eyes and braces for the impact. At worst, Niall thinks it would probably crush his legs.  
  
_Crash_. The sound echoes in Niall’s ear. His eyes are still closed, and he can still feel his legs. The sound of cheers come back again.

Niall opens his eyes, and Spider-Man’s there, holding the car just a few feet in front of Niall. Spider-Man hurls the car back at the bad guy, who Niall can’t see from this angle. Apparently, the car was able to distract the attacker for a bit, and Spider-Man helps him off the ground. 

“You have to get out of here!” Spider-Man tells him, lifting him off the ground with ease. Niall can barely walk on his bad leg, but he tries to walk out of there as fast as he can. He doesn’t look back.

Someone from behind must’ve noticed him limping, because a woman, probably the same age as his mom, helps him walk out of there. She’s very calm, and asks Niall where he’s supposed to be. He tells her where his school is, and hands her his phone when she asks. She calls her family, Niall thinks, and someone else. She hands back Niall his phone, and then tells him Liam and Louis will be waiting for him at the front of the school.

The woman—Niall learns that her name is Morgan—takes him right to Midtown Science. Just as she said, Liam and Louis are waiting for him at the front of the school. Niall can’t string any words together, feeling a bit dizzy and out of it from today’s events. Liam and Louis thank her, and both put one of Niall’s arms over each of their shoulders for support.

Liam’s the one who keeps both Niall and Louis calm. He told both of them he talked to the attendance office already, and called Niall’s parents. They take Niall to the nurse’s office to wait, but they already know he probably has to go to the hospital.

His mom is the only one who can make it to school. Niall’s dad was already out there, dealing with the aftermath of whatever attacked the city. No one even knows who it is, but they do know that they got away.

Niall’s mom already has a cab waiting out front, and the drive to the hospital is silent. They’ve lived in New York their entire lives, and Niall figures something like this was bound to happen.

His mom breaks the silence and starts to go off about how maybe if the Avengers stuck around  they would’ve been able to stop whoever it was that attacked the city. His family was lucky enough to have been on vacation during the alien attack a few years ago. There are so many things going on in the world other than New York, and Niall doesn’t have the energy to point that out to his mom.

Niall is able to see a doctor really quickly, since his mom called their family physician ahead of time. They x-ray his leg, and there’s a small fracture just below his knee, and they have to put his leg in a cast. Niall doesn’t mind having to wear a cast again, as long as he isn’t dead.

Bobby and Maura both decided, without telling Niall, that it’d probably be best if he stayed with his mom for the time being. At this point, he doesn’t want to make a big deal about it, and just wants to get into a bed and sleep the rest of the day off.

When he gets to his mom’s, he texts Zayn, asking him where he is and if he’s okay. Eleanor told him that he didn’t show up to their last period class together, and Niall doesn’t want to worry.

Niall sees his phone screen light up in the middle of the night, around 1am. It’s a text from Zayn.

Z: I’m fine I’ll see u tmrw

\--

Niall shows up to school next day with crutches and a cast. Predictably, people are already talking about it. It’s harder for him to get his books out of his locker, but he already dealt with this when he got his knee surgery before.

When he gets to the newspaper, Eleanor is the first one to greet him by the door. She gets some of the lower classmen to carry his books to his desk for him, and even has a pillow on his chair.

It’s kind of hard to believe that this is already Niall’s second time experiencing a life-threatening event this year. His luck can’t be that bad.

Without him having to tell anybody to do anything, everyone is busy doing their work. Niall doesn’t even notice one person slacking off. Usually, there’s always a group of a few people who goof off and throw pens at each other, but not today.

Zayn shows up five minutes late with an apologetic look on his face, but like everyone else, he immediately gets to work on what Niall assumes is the article about Harry, since Niall assigned it to him. 

Just as class is about to end, Zayn comes over to Niall’s desk and carries his books with his own. Niall stands up, putting his backpack on before he supports himself with his crutches.

“What happened?” Zayn asks, looking at Niall’s cast. It already has a huge scribbled out mark where Louis had drawn a giant dick. “I mean, I heard, but...” Zayn trails off.

“It’s not a big deal. I was running, and I tripped. Someone helped me up, and took me back to school,” Niall says effortlessly. He’s been telling the same story to his friends and his parents. He doesn’t mention the part about almost getting crushed by a car. Niall doesn’t want them to worry more than they have to. “Did you get pictures of Spider-Man?” Niall asks, changing the subject.

“Yeah, there were a few shots.” Zayn nods. “Let’s go to class.”

Niall can barely find the energy and patience to pay attention in his class. He’s sitting next to Zayn again, while Liam and Louis are in their usual seats.

Given the circumstances, his mom was actually willing to let Niall take a few days off of school. Niall was too stubborn. He insisted on going to school, because he’s not going to let other people pick up on his slack. There’s a student council meeting after school today, on all days, and Niall has to lead the meeting because he’s the president. 

Class seems to last centuries, and once the bell starts to ring, Niall finally breathes a sigh of relief.

Zayn insists on carrying his books again, while Liam and Louis tag along to go to Niall’s locker.

Niall’s quiet, but he listens to Zayn, Liam and Louis talk. Niall’s glad that Liam and Louis are making an effort to get to know Zayn a little better, since they’d firmly stuck to their group for the last three years.

“Niall?” Louis asks, knocking on Niall’s locker. “Were you listening?”  
  
“Sorry, I spaced.” Niall twists his lock and enters the combination, and Zayn hands him his books. “What’s up?”  
  
“Zayn just invited us to hang out with you guys on Friday, if that’s cool?” Liam pipes in.  

Niall did want it to just be the two of them, but after everything that’s happened in the short time span of 24 hours, Niall would appreciate all of them being able to hang out together.

“Yeah, it’s fine. Maybe we should invite Harry,” Niall suggests. “We can ask him during yearbook.”  
  
Zayn, Liam, and Louis all nod in agreement. The bell rings again, and Liam and Louis leave to go to their next class.

“I’ve got my work stuff to do, so I’ll see you after school?” Zayn asks.

“Yeah, I’ll see you,” Niall replies back. He’s about to readjust his crutches again, but Zayn takes him by surprise by giving him a quick peck on the lips, before he says goodbye, and leaves. 

Niall can feel the blush spread across his cheeks. They kissed on the first date, but hadn’t held hands since (Niall blames the crutches). He appreciates the gesture, and likes that Zayn’s moving at his own pace.  
  
During independent study, Niall spends his time working on his notes for the student council meeting. It’s almost the end of October, and some of the students had tried to start a homecoming dance. Midtown Science cancelled homecoming ever since a couple of seniors two years ago decided to put stink bombs in the principal’s office on the day of the dance.

They’re planning a winter dance in February, though. Niall is on a committee planning it out with Eleanor, while prom is still too far away to discuss.

Niall thinks about prom. He’s obligated to go to school dances, as the president. They’re not too bad, but it’s high school and sometimes things get dull while you watch all of your best friends dancing with their dates.  

It makes Niall think about the future. Would he go to the dance with Zayn? Graduation isn’t too far after Prom, too. It’s too soon to think about now, and Niall pushes it to the back of his mind to wonder about later.

\-- 

It’s finally Friday night, and Niall’s been looking forward to this all week. After everything that has happened in the last two weeks, it’s nice to unwind and do stuff that normal teenagers should be doing.

Niall’s got all the movies picked out, all on his Netflix list. Louis had requested a few, so Niall knows they’ll all probably fall asleep at the couch at some point. He sets all the takeout menus on the counter, just in case popcorn and whatever food Niall’s mom bought isn’t enough.

Harry, Liam, and Louis all get to Niall’s at the same time. Zayn texted them saying he’d be a little late, so they start one of the movies without him.

Twenty minutes into the movie, Zayn finally arrives. Niall notices he looks a bit worn out, and tired, but Niall assumes that it’s probably because it’s the end of the week. So many things have been happening in the city, it’s understandable.

Zayn sits down on the floor in front of Niall, and leans back into the couch. The movie’s going fine, but after a few more minutes Niall notices blood seeping through the sleeve of Zayn’s shirt.

“Zayn, you’re bleeding.” Niall reaches for Zayn’s arm, gently touching the sleeve.

“It’s fine,” Zayn says, shrugging it off. “It’s just a scratch.”  
  
“Zayn.” Niall pats Zayn’s shoulder. “Let me look at it in the bathroom.”  
  
Not wanting to disrupt the movie any further, Niall ushers Zayn into the bathroom. It’s a bit awkward, with Niall’s crutches, but he makes it work.

Zayn closes the door, and Niall makes him sit on the bathroom counter. The bathroom isn’t too cramped, and Niall always keeps a first aid kit under the sink.  
  
“I told you, it’s no big deal,” Zayn says, shrugging it off again. At least he takes off his shirt before Niall even has to ask.  

Niall examines the cut. It’s not that deep, but Zayn did a pretty poor job of bandaging it up himself.  

“What’d you do?” Niall asks. “Trip while tailing Spider-Man, or accidentally scratch yourself while going up the fire escape?”

Zayn mumbles something that Niall can’t hear, and goes on to explain how he got the cut from tailing Spider-Man. Niall doesn’t buy it. He knows there’s something Zayn’s not telling him, but Niall’s not going to push it. 

Niall patches Zayn up without asking any other questions, and they go back to enjoy the movie marathon with their friends. Liam and Louis even move couches so that Zayn and Niall can sit together without making Niall’s knee feel uncomfortable.

After Niall’s first impressions of Harry, Niall is starting to get less annoyed by all the commotion he brings. The buzz at school seems to have died down, and it’s nice to have a large group of friends to spend time with outside of school.

Louis starts dozing during the third movie, and he doesn’t know if they all had some sort of agreement, but everyone leaves except for Zayn. It’s probably because they all knew it was supposed to be a date— but Zayn had invited them.

Niall cuddles up next to Zayn on the couch, both happy and relieved that they’re finally alone. Niall can sense that Zayn has been feeling a little stressed these last few weeks as well. 

Zayn gets up every once in a while to refill the popcorn bowl, since Niall is guilty of eating way too much of it at once. They manage to get through a fourth movie before Zayn has to make curfew.

Niall’s mom had come home, and despite Niall wanting to walk him to the door, Zayn and his mom insist on helping him back to his room before he falls asleep on the couch.

After Niall’s protests, Zayn still walked Niall to his bedroom, and propped his crutches against the side of the bed for him. Niall’s mom is probably out there standing in the hallway, and he can tell Zayn probably feels a bit awkward. He kisses Niall’s forehead, and says a quick goodnight before Niall’s mom finally comes in to walk him out.

\--

The next few weeks are a lot easier. People have stopped asking Niall about what he’s going to study at Empire State, and he easily dodges all the juniors’ questions about who’s going to be appointed editor for the next school year. The school year hasn’t even been going on that long, but Niall’s already tired of talking about the future.

Niall gets to see Zayn more often, since he’s been less busy with his job at the _Daily Bugle_. There hasn’t been much Spider-Man activity in the city ever since the attack earlier this month, and crime seems to slow down for a bit. 

Zayn still helps out Niall with his physics homework, but there are still a few weird times when Zayn made an excuse to go to the bathroom in the middle of a study session, and came back 30 minutes later with messed up hair and what Niall thought was soot on his face. Niall didn’t ask.

Now, the two of them get to enjoy the fall weather before it starts getting too cold. It’s an early morning, and Niall’s sitting on a bench in Central Park, waiting for Zayn.

Looking back on how they made plans, Niall thinks maybe they should’ve gone somewhere else. He’s used to his crutches, but it’s kind of a bummer he can’t really enjoy a nice day of walking around the city.

Niall’s been waiting on the bench for quite sometime now, until he finally notices Zayn. He’s taking photos of the trees. Niall watches him, and sees how Zayn finally stops, and moves his camera in Niall’s direction. Zayn waves over at him, and makes his way towards Niall.

He isn’t that far away, and Niall waves back.

“How long have you been here?” Niall asks as Zayn approaches the bench.

“I’ve been here the whole time,” Zayn admits. “It’s just, the lighting looked really good from where I was standing.”

“Can I see?” Niall points to Zayn’s camera.

Without hesitating, Zayn takes the camera strap off around his neck and hands Niall the camera. He pushes a button, and the pictures that he took show up on the preview screen. Zayn sits down on the bench and scoots close to Niall.

“These are nice,” Niall says, and clicks on one of the pictures. There are a couple of trees, some random things in the park, and to Niall’s surprise, a couple photos of him.

“What were you thinking about?” Zayn asks, motioning towards the picture that Niall clicked.

Niall turns off the camera, and looks at Zayn. Over the years Zayn had changed his hair quite a bit, and Niall even remembers the one time he put a blonde streak in his hair and actually liked it. Eleanor said it was the true test if you really liked someone, if you still felt that way after a haircut.

“Are you real?” Niall accidentally blurts out. It comes out sounding weird, and Niall can see the look of confusion on Zayn’s face.

Before Niall can blurt out anything else, he moves closer. His lips meet Zayn’s, and it’s the first time they’ve _really_ kissed since their first date. 

Niall lets himself get lost in it. He can feel his heart pounding through his chest, and wonders if Zayn can feel it too.

They break apart, and Zayn rests his forehead against Niall’s. 

“What was that for?”

“If it wasn’t already obvious,” Niall laughs, “I really like you.”

\-- 

They make it through Halloween and November without another attack. The _Daily Bugle_ has dubbed this new villain as the “Green Goblin.” Apparently, the story is that someone robbed Styles Industries, but they’re denying any connection to developing these types of weapons.

December feels colder this year. Niall’s nose turns red from the cold anytime he steps outside. It’s frustrating, and annoying that Zayn actually finds it cute.

“You look like Rudolph,” he jokes one day, gently poking Niall’s nose. Zayn’s walking him home, and Niall finally got his cast off the other day.

Niall huffs, and pulls his scarf up to cover his mouth. He always gets sick in the winter, and he’s not planning on getting sick now, when winter break is just right around the corner.

“C’mere,” Zayn says, pulling Niall closer to him. Zayn wraps his arms around Niall’s waist from behind, and they just stand there on the empty sidewalk for a bit. “I can’t believe you’re going to L.A. for winter break.”

“I know,” Niall sighs. Niall loves the holidays in the city. Louis always drags them out to go ice skating at Rockefeller Center, even though it’s always filled with tourists. “At least I’ll be warm though.”  
  
“I have all the sunshine I need right here, though,” Zayn says, dropping his arms from Niall’s waist.

“You’re so lame.” Niall turns to face Zayn now, shaking his head. “You know that, right?”

“It’s your hair. S’cute,” Zayn replies, touching the fuzzy peaks of hair sticking out of Niall’s beanie.

“It’s all dye,” Niall laughs, and tugs his beanie over his forehead. 

It hasn’t started snowing yet, but it looks like it’s about to. Their last day of school before break is tomorrow, and Niall doesn’t want to think about being gone for two weeks.  
  
Niall intertwines Zayn’s hands with his. During this time of the year Niall never, ever wears gloves, no matter how much his mom scolds him for it. Zayn’s entire being just seems to radiate warmth that Niall finds himself bumping into Zayn every few feet.

They’re by the entrance of Niall’s building now. It’s become a regular occurrence for Zayn to come over and study for a bit. Niall has a physics final tomorrow he needs help studying for, and Zayn is more than willing to help.

Per Niall’s mom’s rules, they have to study at the table in the kitchen. His stepdad is home, most likely watching TV in the bedroom he shares with his mom. His stepdad has also gone to the lengths of preparing snacks that consist of peanut butter and apples. (Honestly, is he five? But Niall appreciates the gesture.)

His mom comes home around seven, which is later than usual. On these days, Niall just takes out the drawer of menus from his mom’s favorite restaurants.

Zayn helped Niall through most of his study guide, since he’s dedicated to the cause of not letting Niall fail physics.

“Maybe I’ll make valedictorian this spring,” Niall muses. He’s a good student, but he’s not even in the top ten like Zayn is.

Zayn’s always a little shy when Niall’s mom is around, so Niall walks Zayn to the door, and kisses his cheek goodbye. It’s a little bittersweet, thinking how they only have tomorrow before Niall leaves.

Niall’s mom orders the takeout, and they both sit on the couch watching the news. It’s their usual way of doing things. She asks him about his day and urges him to finish packing. 

They watch TV until the takeout arrives, and his mom actually lets him eat it in his room, because he hasn’t began packing at all. His suitcase is already open on the bed, and Niall haphazardly starts throwing various clothes onto the bed.  
  
Niall is probably a little too organized. Even though his place at his dad’s doesn’t have all the fancy closet organizers, he finds that packing and organizing takes his mind off of things temporarily.

He’s been consumed lately, thinking about his dad looking at leads about the Goblin, and worrying about Zayn who’s out taking Spider-Man photos.

Niall’s torn about going on vacation. Yes, he’ll be out of the city with his brother and his family, but everyone else will still be in New York. The Goblin could come back any day now, and it’s just a matter of time.

He sets his empty takeout box on his desk, and lays in bed next to his pile of clothes. Niall’s so tired of school and constantly worrying about everything, he closes his eyes and lays there.

\--

School the next day goes by a little too quickly. Everyone wants to get out of there, and a few students are blasting Christmas music whenever they walk down the halls.

There’s not much to do in first period. Most of them are goofing off, and some are studying for their last final. Most people had theirs earlier in the week, but most of the science classes (like physics) have theirs on Thursday and Friday.

Niall goes through his study guide for what he feels like is the 100th time, and Zayn finally arrives to class. 

Zayn’s got a dorky smile on his face, and he’s holding a package that’s wrapped in red paper. Niall can feel his heart beating through his chest at the sight of him. 

“I got you something,” Zayn says.

Niall takes the box, untying the ribbon on top and takes off the lid. There’s wrapping paper, something black on the bottom, and a pen on the top.

“A pen?” Niall says, holding it up. “Thanks?”  
  
“It’s the pen you let me keep,” Zayn tells him. “The one from—”  
  
“The first day?” Niall fills in the blanks. “I can’t believe you kept it.”  
  
“Well,” Zayn smiles. “Look at the bottom of the box.” 

“It’s,” Niall grabs the card at the bottom of the box, and opens it. “A picture of a guitar.”  
  
“It’s the one you’ve been eyeing at the shop,” Zayn says, pointing at the picture. “I didn’t want to carry it at school, so I asked your mom if I could leave it in your room for when you got home.”

“Zayn, I can’t accept this,” Niall says, putting the picture back inside the box. “It’s too expensive.”

“Ed gave me a friend’s discount.” Zayn shrugs. “It’s fine.”  
  
Niall knows that Ed doesn’t give discounts whatsoever, since he’s never given Niall a discount. The gift is way too expensive, and Niall can’t believe that Zayn had actually noticed whenever Niall looked at the guitar through the window when they walked past the store together.

“Now you’re going to make my present look bad,” Niall jokes.

“I’m sure I’ll love anything you give me,” Zayn replies, sounding completely earnest.

Niall takes out his box from under the desk now, and it’s a small one wrapped in green paper. He slides it across the table to Zayn, and watches him carefully rip the wrapping paper off.

Niall didn’t bother hiding it inside another box, and once Zayn rips off the paper, he doesn’t need to open the box to know what it is.

“I love it,” Zayn says, holding the box close against his chest. “I’ve been needing a new camera lense for a while.”

“But—” Niall starts, and Zayn shakes his head.

“It’s perfect.” Zayn smiles. 

\--

Niall leaves on a red-eye flight to Los Angeles. He sleeps for the duration of the flight, which is a first. Niall ended up being crammed in the window seat, which didn’t give him a lot of chances to get up during the flight anyways.

L.A. felt warm. Niall always has to put on sunscreen or else he’ll get the worst burn. Niall didn’t really want to go to L.A., but his mom and brother thought it’d be a good idea for his ‘recovery.’

They rented a house that’s way too big for the four of them. Niall has his own room, and tags along most days wherever his brother’s family goes.

They don’t get a Christmas tree, and it feels weird. Niall’s never spent a Christmas in a warm place without a tree. He’s used to his dad’s tiny, cramped apartment and going to dinner at his mom’s in the evenings.

One day, he decides to stay behind and relax. He’s been going to all these places non-stop, and Niall needs a break.

There’s a beach just behind the house they’re staying at, and Niall takes his guitar that he brought with him. He sits out in the sand, playing a few songs that he’s written over the past year. 

The thing is, the more Niall has time to think about it, he doesn’t want to go to Empire State next fall. He’s already accepted, and his mom was happy to put down any payment, but Niall didn’t see himself studying journalism for the next four years. Zayn and Eleanor would be there, but Liam and Louis had opted for NYU instead.

Niall enjoyed doing the newspaper, but music is where Niall’s passion and interests are. If he could somehow find a way to tell his mom, that would be great.

But Niall’s here, on a beach, miles away from home. There’s just five months left in his senior year of high school, and if he can stick it out another four years to get a degree, maybe he’ll do it.

The sun sets, and Niall’s brother comes back. Niall remembers that he’d accidentally left his phone inside the house, trying to get some time away from being connected.

Greg’s running out to Niall now, with a look of concern on his face. Niall already has the aching feeling it’s going to be bad news.

“We’ve been trying to call, did you hear?” Greg asks.

“Hear what?” Niall replies back.

“It’s Dad,” Greg tells him. “He was attacked by the goblin.”

“We have to-” Niall pushes past Greg, walking back towards the house. Niall starts to feel uneasy, and he isn’t sure what’s going to happen next.  
  
“Our flight leaves at nine,” Greg supplies. “Pack your stuff.” 

Niall gets everything packed in record time. Only Greg and Niall would be going to the airport, while Greg’s wife and kid stayed.

The airport is busy and crowded, given that it’s two days before Christmas. They were originally leaving on the 26th, but under the circumstances...

They’re waiting to board now. Niall can see all the happy families around him and it makes him feel uneasy. Everyone’s going to travel to be together for the holidays, while Niall’s dad could die. The last time Greg checked in, he was still in surgery.  
  
Niall can’t sit still, feeling his leg jump up and down. The flight already started boarding, and he’s not even sitting anywhere near Greg because of how last minute they’d gotten the tickets.

He’s got a couple texts from Liam and Louis, and a voicemail from Zayn. Niall’s not in the mood to answer right now, but he texts their group chat and tells him he’ll be touching down in a couple of hours.

The flight going back home isn’t an easy one. Niall’s stuck in the middle seat on a red-eye flight that’s completely full, and he doesn’t sleep a wink at all during the flight. Niall knows he needs rest, but he can’t stop thinking about his dad, and how the Goblin attacks started happening again just a few days before Christmas.

Niall can’t even think about why the Goblin chose now to make his presence in the city again. It’d been a quiet two months, for most of October and November, except for all the crime that’s normal around the city. Christmas is the time of year where there’s more tourists, and more foot traffic among the streets. Maybe that’s why the Goblin chose now to come back.

Niall sighs, closing his eyes. He’s not going to be able to sleep and he definitely won’t stop thinking about how or why this is happening again. The city’s best hope is Spider-Man, and Niall hopes that whatever else is coming, Spider-Man will be able to stop it.

They land around 5:30 in the morning. Getting off the plane isn’t that bad, since Niall had been near the front. Greg was all the way at the back, but Niall already went ahead to baggage claim to get their stuff and get a cab so they could get to the hospital.

As soon as they’re in the cab, Greg makes the calls. Their mom had been at the hospital the night before, and told them that the surgery was successful, but he’ll probably have to stay in the hospital for a while.

Niall and Greg both breathe in a sigh of relief. Greg’s just as big of a worrier as Niall is, and the both of them had stressed the entire flight.

Now that he’s a bit more relaxed about the situation, Niall finally takes out his own phone and calls Zayn. It’s been awhile since they last talked, maybe two days ago. Zayn’s been pretty busy, going around the city taking Spider-Man pictures since the Goblin attacks began to increase.

“Hey.” Niall holds his phone as close to his face as possible, and leans his head against the window, as if Zayn would be walking on the street somewhere.

“Hi,” Zayn replies back. “Is your dad okay?”

“Yeah, my mom just called and said the surgery was successful,” Niall tells him. “I’ll probably be at the hospital all day.”

“I can swing by later and bring you some food,” Zayn suggests. “Hospital food is disgusting.”  
  
“That sounds good.” Niall feels just a tiny bit happier at the thought of Zayn coming by. The last few hours have been a bit too rough. “I’ll see you later.”  

\-- 

Niall’s always hated the smell of hospitals. He’s had his share of visits recently, being in there himself and when his dad had gotten into small scuffles before. Greg’s fallen asleep in one of the uncomfortable chairs in his dad’s hospital room, but Niall’s waiting outside. He’d already gone in and talked to his dad, and he’s been in and out sleeping. His dad is going to make a full recovery, so Niall might leave in a few hours to get some rest.

As promised, Zayn comes by with some takeout from their favorite sandwich place.

They’re eating in the hospital cafeteria, mainly because it has tables and a place where both of them can sit.

Niall’s hasn’t really paid attention to the time that’s passed by, he doesn’t even notice that it’s already Christmas.

“Do you know how long your dad has to stay in the hospital?” Zayn asks.

“Probably another few weeks,” Niall replies, but he’s still unsure. “They definitely do not want him going back into the field too early.”  
  
“For the best.” Zayn nods. “The Goblin attacks are getting worse by the day.”

“Do you think they’ll catch him?” Niall wonders out loud. “Maybe if they’d work together with Spider-Man it would help.”

“Yeah,” Zayn shakes his head. “No chance. The cops hate Spider-Man.”

Niall has heard his dad call Spider-Man a ‘menace’ on multiple occasions. Most of it is probably due to all the bad press the guy gets from the _Daily Bugle_. Niall has had to point out on multiple occasions that if it wasn’t for Spider-Man, Niall would probably be dead by now. 

“Do you know him?” Niall asks.

“What?” Zayn laughs. “ _Me_? Know Spider-Man?”  
  
“That’s my other theory.” Niall shrugs. “If you don’t use police radios to know where he is, then I figure you must be friends.”

“We’re not exactly friends,” Zayn says with an odd tone to his voice. “Acquaintances, more like.”

Niall observes Zayn for a moment, looking at his face. Niall’s trying to figure out if Zayn’s just messing with him. It’s not usually Zayn’s style, and from Niall’s past theories he could probably be getting too close for Zayn’s comfort.

“I should probably go,” Zayn sighs. Niall watches as Zayn wraps up his leftover sandwich, and gets his camera out of his bag. It’s starting to get a little late, and Niall doesn’t know if the Goblin would attack at a time like this.

“I’ll call you,” Niall tells him. 

“I love you,” Zayn says, and kisses Niall’s forehead.  
  
Niall freezes for a moment, because neither of them have ever said those words before. It’s taken Niall by surprise, and by the time he can string his words together, Zayn’s already gone.

He stays in the cafeteria, but his sandwich has gone cold and starts to look unappetizing. Niall realizes that he should probably go home as well, and come back first thing in the morning when his dad is awake.

\--

They spend New Year’s Eve at Harry’s place. Since Harry’s dad is the CEO of Styles Industries, he’s never around much, according to Harry. It’s safe to say that they’ll be alone for most of the night.

It’s just the guys, with the tiny group they formed ever since Harry joined the yearbook team. They hung out a lot, especially after the movie night at Niall’s place after the first Goblin attack. Harry’s giant TV is on, and playing the New Year’s Eve countdown. It’s mostly just for the sound, because Niall’s pretty sure Harry’s place has a killer view of the fireworks, anyways.

The tourists seemed to flee from the city since the Goblin attacks, but nothing will stop people from celebrating the new year in Times Square. Niall thinks it’s nice that people are still willing to come together to celebrate given the unfortunate circumstances in the last week.

Niall’s snuggled up on the couch next to Zayn, feeling like he’s about to drift to sleep at any moment. It’s nice, being surrounded by all of his close friends and taking the moment to appreciate the little things. 

He’s resting his head against Zayn’s shoulder, but Niall can feel the tension in Zayn’s body. The chances of the Goblin attacking seem slim at this point, since there was already two attacks in the last two days. 

Niall can’t exactly pinpoint the expression on Zayn’s face. He’s staring at the TV, but he looks tired and drained in a way that’s different from normal. 

“Hey.” Niall nudges him softly. “Are you okay?”  
  
“Yeah,” Zayn says, and leans back into the couch. “Harry’s place just gives me this weird feeling, I don’t know.”

“How weird?” Niall asks.

“It’s like,” Zayn tries to explain. “That feeling you get when you can feel a chill in the room, and a sudden rush of goosebumps or something.”

“We can leave if you want,” Niall suggests. Liam, Louis and Harry are all attempting to make s'mores over Harry’s fireplace, and it is almost midnight. Niall told his mom he’d be spending the night, but they could go back to Zayn’s.

“S’fine,” Zayn says, rubbing his eyes. “I’m too tired to move.”

Niall extends his arm out to reach the remote on the other side of him, and turns off the TV. The rest of the boys are too distracted to notice, and Niall also moves the blanket over both him and Zayn. They’ve both been really worn out recently, so Niall doesn’t mind falling asleep before the New Year even begins.

Niall’s still leaning against Zayn’s shoulder, and Zayn moves his head so it’s resting on top of Niall’s. It’s nice and cozy, and Niall wouldn’t mind sleeping like this for the rest of the night. Niall can feel his eyes begin to droop, and he’s sort of in and out for the next few minutes. He notices that Liam makes sure to steer Louis away from pulling any pranks, and Niall makes a mental note to thank Liam when he wakes up.

He’s drifting off into a light sleep, but he can feel that Zayn’s definitely asleep. Niall tries not to move any further, and pulls up the blanket one more time. Niall hopes that when they wake up in the morning, 2018 will maybe suck a lot less.

\-- 

Lunch on their first day back from break is weird. Well, not that weird. Earlier, Niall asked Zayn if he wanted to sit with him and his friends during lunch, but Zayn made an excuse about a class project. Which he for a fact that knows doesn’t exist, because Eleanor is in that class.

Their relationship is solid, so Niall doesn’t want to dwell on it too much. But Niall has noticed Zayn doesn’t really stay on campus for independent study and lunch. If he’s taking spidey pictures, he could just say so.

Niall’s a worrier. He worries too much. Mostly because of his dad’s job, but there’s something bigger happening lately. Something worse is already here, and Niall’s dad won’t talk about what’s happening. The news won’t even show a picture of the Goblin that’s been terrorizing the city, and it’s keeping his dad up most nights, even though he’s still in the hospital.

Naturally, Niall’s up most nights too.

Niall checks back into the real world and stabs at his salad with a fork and joins in on the conversation. Liam and Louis are talking about their latest shenanigans, and Eleanor joins the table.

Niall then notices Harry standing in the middle of the cafeteria, looking like a lost sheep. Harry’s eyes circle around the room, and once he looks over in Niall’s direction, Niall waves for him to come over.

Harry waves back, and makes his way to their table.

“Hey,” Harry says, addressing the table.

Niall pats the empty seat next to him, and Harry sits down.

“I was looking for Zayn,” Harry says, and looks around the cafeteria one more time. “No luck.”

“He doesn’t usually eat lunch on campus,” Niall supplies.

“Bummer,” Harry replies, barely touching his food. Midtown Science really has subpar cafeteria food. 

Liam, Louis and Eleanor take over the conversation from there. They’re all talking about something yearbook related that Niall can’t follow. Yearbook isn’t really his main focus. 

Niall doesn’t mean to be rude, but he can’t be bothered to listen to the conversation right now.

He thinks about his dad, and Zayn. Tailing Spider-Man is a pretty high risk job, too. Last night, Zayn had come over to study and he had a cut on his forehead. Zayn told him not to worry about it, but Niall wouldn’t stop fussing over it until Zayn let him put a bandage on it.

The lunch bell finally rings, snapping Niall back to reality. He’s a little more tired and irritated than usual. Niall isn’t going to make excuses for himself, because he knows exactly the reason why.  
  
The bell doesn’t stop ringing, and Niall realizes that it isn’t the bell for class, but the alarm notifying the students they’re about to go into a lockdown. The principal talks calmly over the loudspeaker, and his friends help him get to the closest classroom through the rush of the students.

It’s a good thing that Niall isn’t on crutches anymore. It’s also a lot easier to navigate through a crowded hallway when you have Liam and Louis making sure you don’t get crushed, either.

Niall, Liam, Louis, Eleanor, and Harry are sitting on the floor of a classroom with other students and one faculty member. The school’s quiet now, and most of the footsteps are starting to die down since everyone’s in a classroom.

The principal finally announces they’re on lockdown because there’s a been a Green Goblin attack not far from the school. Their principal tries her best to make sure the students are safe, and tells them that the police are handling it.

Niall didn’t actually get to see the Goblin, but he doesn’t know how useful police would actually be in this situation. His dad’s in the hospital because of the Goblin; Niall’s seen what he can do.

“Zayn isn’t at school.” Niall starts biting his nails, something he can’t stop doing when he’s nervous. He thinks about Zayn tailing Spider-Man, and wonders if he’s okay.

“I’m sure he’ll be fine, Niall,” Louis says, trying to comfort him. “Might be safer than us.”

Niall nods, but that doesn’t ease his stress.

The room remains mostly quiet, and Niall can tell that some of the other students are texting their parents, letting them know they’re okay. The lockdown seems to go on for hours, and they’re still in the dark about getting updates from the news.

Liam and Louis start a game of cards, and it manages to ease Niall’s stress for a little bit. They still have to keep quiet, and Niall can tell everyone is trying their best to get their mind off things.

The lockdown finally ends a few hours after they normally end school. It’s just before five, and most parents are coming to the school to pick up their kids.

Niall’s mom picks him up, and Zayn still hasn’t showed, called, or texted. Niall tries to distract himself with other thoughts, but after all that’s happened to him, he can’t not think of the worst in this situation.

He can’t seem to sleep when he gets home. Niall’s texts remain unanswered, and his mom and stepdad have been long asleep. It’s one in the morning, and Niall is definitely going to regret staying up late when he gets up for school.

Niall checks his phone one last time, and he sees a message from Zayn. Niall opens it immediately, and he’s a bit confused when he sees that it’s Zayn, asking him to open the front door.

Niall tries to be as quiet as he can, and slowly pads across the living room to get to the front door. He forgets about how big his mom’s place is, and he’s able to open the front door quietly without anybody waking up. 

“Hi,” Zayn whispers.

Niall doesn’t really have the time to deal with whatever shit that happened today, so he motions toward his bedroom, and tells Zayn to wait for him in there. Niall’s pretty sure he has to get the first aid kit in the bathroom. Niall can’t really see Zayn’s face because of the poor lighting, but Niall already knows.

Zayn’s sitting on the bed, close to his lampshade. Niall finally gets a really good look at him. Zayn has a black eye, and a few cuts and scratches across his face. He’s mostly cleaned up, and doesn’t appear to be bleeding anywhere else.  
  
Niall sets the first aid kit down next to the lampshade, and sits next to Zayn on the bed. Zayn still hasn’t said anything, but he takes hold of Niall’s hand.

“Where the fuck were you today?” Niall asks. He’s not angry, but Niall is tired of everything that’s been happening. His dad’s still not out of the hospital, and he’s already been attacked once.

“I can’t—” Zayn sighs. “I can’t, Niall.”

Zayn leans into Niall’s shoulder, and Niall lets him rest there. Zayn looks so tired and worn out, and from the bags under his eyes Niall gets the feeling he hasn’t gotten a good night’s sleep in days. 

Niall calls it a night, and turns off the light. He remembers to set his alarm clock a little earlier than usual, just so they can get out and leave before his mom notices in the morning.

“It’s okay,” Niall says, rubbing his hand against the back of Zayn’s neck. “We’ll figure it out.”

\-- 

Since they scheduled the trip so long ago, Niall nearly forgot the trip to New Jersey with the boys. They were going to stay for the weekend and watch the Rangers play the Devils. Normally, they went to the Rangers’ home games, and Niall doesn’t remember why they wanted to go to New Jersey in the first place.

They meet up at Harry’s place, out of convenience since he’s closer to the station than everyone else. Harry offers for them to use his car, since he has a driver, but they all agreed that they’d rather take the train.

They’re still waiting on Zayn, who’s running late as usual. They’ve all got their Rangers jerseys on, and Harry had just bought one for the occasion.

Zayn finally shows up fashionably late. His hair doesn’t look messed up from the wind for once, and Niall notices that his jersey looks _odd_.

“Are you wearing a Habs jersey?” Niall asks in disbelief. They’re not even one of the teams playing, and definitely a team that Niall does not like. 

“Uh, yeah,” Zayn says, scratching the back of his neck. “I was a Habs fan growing up.”

“Well, Niall, looks like you know which game you’ll be buying tickets for on your next date.” Louis laughs. “Let’s leave.”

Niall and Zayn fall behind the rest of the boys, and the two walk closely together. Niall’s only been to New Jersey a few times before, so he trusts that Louis knows enough about public transportation to get them to the game in time.

They’re on the train now, and Niall takes the opportunity to ask Zayn about his team allegiances.

“The _Habs_ , Zayn?” Niall sighs. “Really?”

“I could say the same thing about you and the Rangers,” Zayn smiles. “A little rivalry can’t hurt.”

“Please don’t tell me you’re going to say that New York is red next.” Niall groans, burying his face into his hands.

“Nah,” Zayn says, putting his arm around Niall’s shoulders. “Not really a Red Bulls fan.” 

When they arrive at the arena, they do get a few strange looks from the home fans. It’s not that odd for Rangers fans to make a trip to watch an away game, but Niall notices that Zayn’s jersey is certainly attracting some attention.

They have pretty good seats, but not right up next to the glass. It’s Harry’s first time at a hockey game, and for most of it Liam tries to explain the rules but doesn’t do a very good job.

Niall and Zayn spend most of the game ignoring Harry and Liam, since it’s obvious the whole rule explaining thing is going nowhere. Louis stopped trying to help them a long time ago, but they’re still going at it.

The Rangers end up winning the game 4-2.

It takes them a while leave the arena, since they all get caught up in the crowds of fans trying to leave all at once. They all end up meeting outside the hotel they got for the night, since it was already pretty late.

They all agreed to share a room, since it’s what most of them could afford. The room they booked included two beds and a pull-out couch, which wasn’t too bad for the five of them.

Once they get to the hotel entrance, Zayn pulls Niall aside, away from the rest of the group.

“I have to go,” Zayn says, looking at the time on his phone.

“I thought you were spending the weekend?” Niall frowns. Niall’s sure there’s still a couple more trains back to the city, so Zayn has a bit of time.

“I have a work thing,” Zayn replies, not sounding 100% sure about it. “It’s last minute, and Jameson asked, so I have to.”

“Alright,” Niall says, trying not to sound too disappointed. They planned this trip a long time ago, and it sucks that Zayn can’t stay for the whole time. “Travel safe. I love you.” Niall gives him a quick kiss goodbye, and watches Zayn leave as he gets further away from his sight.

“Where’d he go?” Liam asks, popping up from around the corner.

“Had to go.” Niall frowns again.

“Oh,” Liam says, quiet. “Well, we’re going up to the room now.”

“Cool,” Niall replies. “I’ll be right behind you.”  

\-- 

When the four of them are inside their tiny hotel room, they spend at least 20 minutes trying to decide which one of them are going to sleep in a bed by themselves. At this point, Niall doesn’t even care, because Zayn already left.

Niall wonders if he can still catch a train back by himself, just to avoid the trouble of it all.

He ends up sharing a bed with Louis, because they all agreed that Harry and Liam are the worst to sleep next to. During their New Year’s party, Louis had pointed out that they were both the ones who hogged up most of the space.

Niall’s a bit quiet for the rest of the night, trying not to mope over Zayn leaving. Niall calls it an early night, and wraps himself up in a blanket in the bed closest to the window. He’s not going to sleep yet, but would rather avoid the weird truth or dare game the boys are playing at the moment.

Now that Niall has time to think about, a lot of Zayn’s excuses are always last minute. Especially the one about the class project Niall found out doesn’t even exist. He’s not too sure about the Jameson excuse, but last time Zayn told him that Jameson was strictly interested in Spider-Man pictures. Niall could be wrong, though, since there is a chance one of the _Bugle’s_ photographers called out sick.  
  
It’s only natural. Zayn’s probably their next best freelancer.

Niall doesn’t want to lose too much sleep over it, so he tries to forget about it for now. He’s probably over analyzing it. Niall closes his eyes, and does his best to drown out the sounds in the room, and drifts off to sleep.

\--

Niall ends up going back home in the morning by himself. Louis, Liam, and Harry stay in New Jersey for the day, doing whatever. Niall can’t remember exactly what it is that they planned.

He sits on the train by the window, watching as the train moves by. Niall’s still a little tired from the night before, and he has some errands to run for his dad since he’s going to get out of the hospital later today.

Niall stops at his dad’s place for the first time in a while, and starts cleaning the place up a bit. There’s a few random items of clothing lying around, and Niall throws them in the hamper and gets down to work.

The table is a bit dusty, and Niall does his best to sweep the place up. His dad’s pretty tidy, and imagines that this was just the mess he didn’t get around to clean the day he got attacked by the Goblin.

The fridge also needs to be restocked, so Niall writes down a list of everything he needs to get for his dad. He sorts and throws away all the old food, and once he’s done, he takes the list and leaves the room.

He’s still got a bit of time left before Greg brings him back, so Niall decides to do something he hasn’t done for a while.

The roof on his dad’s apartment building has a small area to sit and hang out, but most people don’t know about it. There’s always the risk that it’s not entirely safe, but before his mom insisted that he stay at her place, Niall always used to go up all the time.  
  
Niall didn’t bring a blanket up with him, but the March weather was okay for him to bear with just a thick jacket on. 

He’s standing quite far from the edge, but he can still see some of the streets in the distance. It’s just past noon now, and he can see all the cars passing by, and people walking to wherever they need to go.

Niall usually comes up here for a _quiet_ place to think. The sky is clear, and he closes his eyes for a moment to take it all in.

“Are you okay?” a voice asks from behind him.

“Uh, yeah?” Niall turns around, and he’s a bit surprised to see the Spider-Man there.

Spider-Man nods, but doesn’t say anything else. He sort of just, stands there, while Niall is still a bit confused.

“I’m not, going to jump or anything,” Niall tells him. “I just need to breathe out here for a second.”  
  
Spider-Man continues to remain silent, but nods again. He moves forward, and sits on the edge of the building. From what Niall can tell, he’s probably just making his rounds around the city.

“Do you know Zayn?” Niall asks.

Spider-Man turns around, and Niall can’t tell exactly what he’s trying to say. He’s still not speaking, and sort of gives this half shrug gesture that Niall can only guess the meaning of.

“The guy who takes photos of you?” Niall clarifies.

Spider-Man nods, and tilts his head to the side. He’s probably wondering why Niall would even ask him that.

“Can you maybe like…” Niall trails off. “Uh, tell him to be more careful while he’s taking pictures of you?”  
  
Spider-Man nods one more time, and before Niall can ask him anything else, he leaps from the building.

Niall watches as Spider-Man moves in the distance, swinging to the next building, and watches as he gets smaller in the cityscape.

After a few more minutes, Niall goes back down to his dad’s apartment to take out the trash that he’d forgotten to take out earlier. The load is light, and he makes his way to the grocery store after tossing the bags into the dumpster.

He uses a cart at the grocery store, and remembers to check off each item on the list that he’d written down earlier. Greg called him about five minutes ago, and told him to get a couple of more things since they decided that their dad was going to stay with Greg and Denise for a bit.

Niall’s still walking through the aisles, pushing his cart along and trying to find the last things on the list. It’s not a very big grocery store, and if they don’t have them, he could always pick it up later.

He turns into the next aisle, and accidentally bumps his cart into someone’s basket. Niall’s about to start apologizing, and then he recognizes Zayn.

“Hey,” Zayn says, smiling. He’s alone, and yanks the headphones out of his ears. “You getting ready for your dad to get released?”

“Yeah,” Niall nods. Niall tries his best not to look upset, since he’s still not quite over the night before.

“Listen,” Zayn starts. “I’m sorry about last night. My aunt needed the extra cash for the rent and I was too embarrassed to say anything.”

Niall feels like an _asshole_ now. He spent the night wondering if it was another excuse, and that Zayn was keeping something from him.

“You don’t have to explain,” Niall says calmly. “You were in a tough situation.”  
  
“I’ll see you tomorrow, right?” Zayn asks.

“What’s tomorrow?” Niall asks, confused.

“We’re going to study for the English test on Monday,.” Zayn reminds him.

“Oh, right.” Niall shakes his head.  
  
Zayn goes through self-checkout pretty quickly, since he only has two items in his basket. Zayn waits for Niall while he’s getting checked out at the register, and it doesn’t take too long.

When all his groceries are paid for, Zayn carries more than half of the bags to the taxi that Niall had hailed. He wasn’t going to walk all the way to Greg’s place, and Niall’s kind of hoping that Zayn will join him.

Once all the groceries are loaded into the taxi, Zayn’s standing, and leaning his hand against the top of the taxi.  
  
“This is where I send you off,” Zayn says.

“Sure you don’t want to come?” Niall asks. He’s pretty sure the taxi driver is starting to get irritated, and Niall doesn’t want to push it any further.

“I’m sure your dad would like to spend some time with you.” Zayn smiles. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Zayn closes the door to the taxi, and Niall’s a bit sad he didn’t get the chance to kiss him goodbye. Niall waves out the window, and watches as Zayn walks in the opposite direction.

\-- 

Niall thinks he’s starting to piece things together. The weird phone call before their first date, that time Zayn got flustered on his first day of the newspaper, and all his flimsy excuses.

He wishes he had more solid evidence, but Niall can’t really remember what Spider-Man sounded like when he met him before. There’s a good chance he’s disguising his own voice, so maybe Niall wouldn’t be able to tell anyways.

Sometimes, Zayn seems like he’s on another wavelength. He catches a frisbee before it hits Niall’s head at the park, and stops Niall just before he trips over a crack in the sidewalk. His reflexes are scarily good for someone who hasn’t participated in organized sports during any point of his life.

The photos were always his first clue. All of Spider-Man’s photos are always taken before the police arrive. There’s no way of knowing exactly when and where Spider-Man is going to be, since police radios wouldn’t even be of any help. Niall knows this from his dad, who’d never once seen Spider-Man stick around after the crime scene. 

Or, Niall could be wrong about this whole thing, and maybe Spider-Man is someone Zayn knows. It can’t be Harry, because Niall knows for a fact he’s probably the clumsiest person alive. He tripped onstage during an Oscorp event and it was in the papers for weeks.

That theory doesn’t work very well, because it still doesn’t explain all the bruises, bumps, and scratches Zayn has gotten from ‘tailing Spider-Man.’ If Zayn was just a friend of Spider-Man, there should be a more solid explanation for all those injuries.

He’s waiting in Zayn’s bedroom, sitting on the floor with his back against Zayn’s bed frame. It’s a small room, but they agreed due to distance it was the best place to study for their English test.

Zayn’s running late, and his aunt had let Niall wait in his room. So here he is, tapping his foot away waiting for Zayn to show up.

There’s probably clues in Zayn’s room, but Niall will be firm in his suspicions without snooping around his boyfriend’s room. Niall respects his space and privacy.

Niall’s about to leave, until he feels a breeze from the window. He never opened it, but now he’s looking at it.

Niall’s eyes follow from the window, to the ceiling, and that’s when he notices.

Zayn is there, crawling on the ceiling, in a bright red and blue suit.

Well, looks like Niall was right, after all.

Zayn closes the door, and drops back onto the ground, and his jaw drops when he turns around and sees Niall sitting on the floor.

“I can explain!” Zayn says, throwing the nearest piece of clothing on top of his suit.

“It’s cool.” Niall grins. “I already knew.”

“You knew?” Zayn throws his mask into the closet, looking confused. “How?”  
  
“You’re kind of too obvious,” Niall informs him. “You’re excuses aren’t that good, especially the ones you use to explain your injuries.”

“Right.” Zayn sighs, and sits down in the chair he has by his tiny desk. “I was trying to think of ways to tell you.” Zayn slouches in his chair, and gives Niall a weak smile. “You can’t really drop it in casual conversation. ‘Hey, I’m Spider-Man. Also here’s those photos you asked for. See you later, Niall,’” Zayn muses out loud.

“I mean, I would’ve figured it out anyways.” Niall tries not to sound too smug. “Journalist instincts. Also, my dad’s a cop.”

“Maybe.” Zayn shrugs it off, and puts on a sweatshirt and pants over his suit.

“So how’d it happen?” Niall asks. He didn’t really get around to figuring that part out yet.

“I, uh,” Zayn says, looking around in his desk drawer. “Got bitten by this spider.”

Zayn holds up a small glass vial and inside Niall can see a dead, preserved spider.  

“This is gross,” Niall says, holding it up in front of Zayn’s lamp so he can get a better look at it. “But cool.”

“It did hurt a lot, though,” Zayn replies, taking the spider out of Niall’s hands.

“So do you have any leads?” Niall asks. “For finding the Goblin?”

“Every time I try to tail him he just blasts another one of those bombs.” Zayn shakes his head. “I’ve tried a few trackers, but something with his glider interferes with it.”

“I can pull some of the police resources?” Niall suggests. “I’m sure they have leads with the NYPD.” 

“I’d rather not try breaking into your dad’s stuff.” Zayn sighs. “Isn’t he still off duty?”  
  
“Yeah.” Niall moves back, and sits on Zayn’s bed. “So I guess we’re on our own.”

“ _We_?” Zayn says, looking confused.

“Yeah, the both of us.” Niall scoffs. “I figured out you were Spider-Man. You need my help.”

“ _Fine_ ,” Zayn replies. “We should really study for this English test, though.”  
  
“Agh.” Niall grabs his textbook that he left on the floor earlier. “Studying.”

They manage to get a good amount of studying in, and every time Niall tries to steer the subject back towards the Goblin, Zayn redirects his attention back to their work.

Niall has to leave a bit early though, since he agreed he’d have dinner with Greg and his dad. Things are still a little hard at the moment since his dad was released from the hospital, but they’re all still adjusting.

Zayn had fallen asleep five minutes ago, snoring lightly with his head leaning against the desk. Niall doesn’t have the heart to wake him up, since he looks so tired. He leaves a note on the desk, and quietly leaves.

\-- 

School remains mostly normal. Zayn doesn’t have to give Niall the half-assed excuses about leaving during free period and lunch, and Niall starts helping him come up with better ones for the future.

Niall’s sitting at the usual lunch table, with Liam, Louis, Eleanor and Harry. He’s missed a lot over the weekend since they last went to the game. They’re getting Niall caught up with what he missed, and Niall wonders if they have something planned for next weekend.

“We met Harry’s dad, Desmond,” Liam says casually. “He was pretty stiff.”  
  
“This is why he’s never around much,” Harry says in between bites of his salad. “Probably forgets I even exist.”

“I’m sure that’s not true, Harry.” Niall shrugs. “I mean, he’s your dad?”  
  
“He called me Henry the other day, I’m pretty sure,” Harry jokes.

“Alright,” Louis says, trying to change the subject. “Any plans for today?”  
  
“Me and Zayn were going to go to the zoo after school,” Niall replies. “Just the two—”  
  
“Oh, I haven’t been to the zoo!” Harry interrupts. “Me and Liam were going to the gym, but we’ll come.”  
  
Niall sort of stabs at his plate, and out of the corner of his eye he can see both Eleanor and Louis rolling their eyes. Niall assumes the both of them have had their plans crashed by Liam and Harry on multiple occasions as well.

“Cool,” Niall says sarcastically. “We would love to have you.”  
  
The lunch bell rings, before Niall can say anything else that he possibly might regret later. There’s only two classes left in the day, and Niall’s sure they’ll have more time to talk it over in yearbook.

Physics is a bit boring, which is no change for Niall since it’s the same every day. He’s doing a lot better in the class now, thanks to Zayn’s help.

Ever since Niall’s suspicions about Zayn have been confirmed, Niall’s spent a lot of time going over Goblin suspects. He remembers earlier in the year there were reports about technology being stolen from Harry’s family’s company. It would be a good lead to look into, but Niall’s not sure if Harry can give him the time to be able to talk to his dad, given their rocky relationship.

He’s mostly stuck at square one. Niall hasn’t seen the Goblin except for a picture on the news, since he managed to get away during an attack.

Niall gets reeled back into reality when the bell rings. He’ll probably be too busy during yearbook to have the time to stretch out more theories, so he makes a note to talk about it with Zayn once they get out of school.

Since it’s edging closer to the end of the school year, the yearbook staff are busier than ever. It’s a lot of putting things together before they have to send it off to the company that prints out the yearbooks. Each edition is massive, and Niall guesses it’s around 350 pages this year.

Eleanor is busy running around the room, while Louis watches after her, trying to make sure she doesn’t stress herself out too much.

Overall, it’s a nice balance for him and Eleanor— they both had interest in the yearbook and the newspaper, and it worked out that neither of them ended up editors for both. Niall can’t imagine how stressful that would be.

Harry and Liam keep getting off task, and as usual, Niall has to get them back to their work before Eleanor notices. He almost wants to sign out and leave school early, but he still can’t avoid Harry and Liam crashing on his date with Zayn.

Niall finally makes it through his last class, and Eleanor is sitting down, looking extremely relieved. Louis is already packing up their stuff, and Niall assumes they made plans of their own instead of crashing like Liam and Harry.

Zayn’s waiting outside the classroom, like always. Niall didn’t really get the chance to text him about Liam and Harry crashing on their plans. Zayn gives Niall an odd look when Liam and Harry are trailing behind them, but Niall just shrugs and tell him to go with it.

They take the bus to the Queens Zoo, which is not a far ride from school. Niall and Zayn try to sit as far away as possible from Harry and Liam on the bus. For some reason, they still hadn’t really gotten the sign that they _want_ to be alone.

The bus is not as crowded as Niall expected, and he and Zayn are lucky to get a seat together. Niall rests his head against Zayn’s shoulder, and he can feel Zayn’s hand intertwine with his.

Everything seems to be going smoothly, until the bus comes to an abrupt stop. They’re nearly knocked out of their seats, and outside the window Niall can see people running around on the street.

“Everybody get out of the bus!” The driver shouts.

No one needs to be told a second time, and they all file out of the bus. Niall looks for Liam and Harry, and finds them off to the side.

“Where’s Zayn?” Harry asks, looking around the crowds of people running by.

Niall hadn’t noticed that he’d already run off, but he knows by now that the Goblin is around here somewhere.

“Zayn knows what he’s doing,” Niall replies. “We have to get out of here, now.”  
  
Sensing the urgency, Liam and Harry follow Niall out of there. They move in the direction of the crowd, and Niall finds it a lot easier to navigate compared to last time when he was alone. Niall can feel Liam’s tight grip on his arm, and Niall looks back every few seconds to make sure Harry’s still there.

“Wait,” Harry calls from behind.

“I’ll get him,” Liam says, grabbing Harry’s arm. He’d stumbled on the ground, and the people around them keep running.

Before Harry can stand up, Niall sees an explosion just a block from where they are, and Harry stumbles again.

“C’mon Harry,” Niall goes to Harry’s other side and helps him up. He’s not sure if Harry hurt his leg, but Niall’s not going to leave anyone behind.

Liam and Niall are doing their best to run while supporting Harry, but it’s getting harder when people keep pushing past them. Niall can hear the Goblin getting closer, and it doesn’t look like a good situation for the three of them.

They still aren’t moving quickly enough, and a bomb goes off just behind them. It knocks all three of them over, but Niall’s not hurt anywhere minus a few scrapes on the bottom of his palms. Liam and Niall both try to help Harry up again, but he’d fallen a few feet behind them.

Liam and Niall suddenly get pushed to the side of the street, and Niall can finally see Zayn on the other side of the street moving in on the Goblin. He looks a foot taller than Zayn, standing on the giant glider that adds to his height.  

“Niall,” Liam says, tugging on Niall’s sleeve. “Harry’s—”  
  
Before Liam can finish his sentence, Niall sees Harry, laying on the ground in the middle of the street between the Goblin and Zayn. Niall tries to run out to him, but Liam grabs Niall’s arms from behind, holding him in place.

“Spider-Man’s got this,” Liam says, trying his best to sound calm.

“Harry!” Niall yells. “Get up!”

Harry’s slowly trying to get up, and the Goblin gets off his glider. He’s standing in front of Harry now, and the Goblin reaches down and grabs Harry by the shoulders, lifting him up.

The Goblin tosses a smoke bomb in Zayn’s direction, making it difficult for him to see. Niall and Liam can barely make out the Goblin in the surrounding smoke.

Niall can hear a faint coughing noise, and out of the smoke comes Harry, crawling his way to the sidewalk. Liam grabs him immediately, and Niall rushes to the other side to help.

The three run out of there, and Liam tries his best to guide them out of there. Harry’s still coughing, but they have no chance of getting an ambulance out here. It takes them at least an hour to get to the closest hospital.

The emergency room is another long waiting list. If Niall was keeping time, he’d guess that it was around two hours before someone was able to see Harry.

So far, the diagnosis isn’t bad. Harry just needed some oxygen and he’d gotten a large cut on the side of his leg, but nothing is broken. Nothing but a few bruises or cuts that can’t easily heal, and it’s a lot better than being dead.

“The Goblin just let you go?” Niall asks in disbelief. Not many people had even survived a Goblin encounter that close. His dad had barely gotten out alive, and Niall wonders how he’d let Harry go with just a few scrapes.

“It was weird,” Harry says, trying to recall what happened from the attack. “He grabbed me, and He was wrapping his hands around my neck, and then he looked into my eyes and just stopped?”

“That’s when he threw you towards the sidewalk?” Liam asks.

“Yeah,” Harry quivers. “I feel like I just wanna go home.” He sighs.

“I’ll take him home, Niall,” Liam tells him. “You can go.” 

Niall wishes them his best, and leaves the hospital. It’s been a bad year so far, with the Goblin attacks. Niall wonders what happened to Zayn earlier, and if he was able to do anything to stop or catch the Goblin.

He goes to his dad’s empty apartment, not wanting to risk his chances getting stuck in a cab. Niall doubts there’ll be another attack, since the Goblin usually doesn’t attack more than once a day, but he’s a little paranoid at the moment.

Since his dad was still staying with Greg, Niall has the place to himself. He lays down in his old bedroom, and pulls out his phone to text Zayn where he is, so they can meet up.

Niall goes back to his list of theories. Harry had made it out alive, and Niall wonders about the connection to Styles Industries. If they were trying to cover up stolen tech—could it be possible that it was a former employee, and someone that _knew_ Harry? It could be a decent theory, since Harry did intern at his dad’s company.

Harry barely saw his dad, and he could’ve gotten close to a one of the other higher-ups at the company.

Niall spaces out for a moment, and his thoughts are interrupted by a slight _tap_ on the window. It’s Zayn.

Niall opens the window, letting Zayn inside. It’s getting a bit warmer, so Niall leaves the window open a tiny crack.

“Hey,” Zayn says, plopping onto the bed next to Niall.

He looks worn out, and Niall can see the bruises forming on each side of his face.

“Harry’s fine, right?” Zayn asks, sounding scared. “I thought earlier, he was going to—”

“He said that the Goblin just let him go,” Niall tells him. “He roughed him up a bit, and then he just tossed him aside.”

“He let him go?”

“Yeah.” Niall nods.

The two sit in silence for a bit, and take the time to absorb the events of today. Niall can tell Zayn feels a bit guilty, but he did everything he could in that situation.

Niall fills Zayn in on his possible theories, and both of them end up researching every detail of Styles Industries’ personnel. There’s only two people who have been fired since the Goblin attacks started, and they both agree that it’s a good start, for now.

It’s starting to get dark out, and Zayn tells him that he has to leave and make his rounds for the night.

“Zayn, be careful,” Niall says quietly.

“Hey,” Zayn says, and presses his forehead against Niall’s. “I’ll be fine, okay?”

“I love you,” Niall says, and holds Zayn’s face in his hands.

“I know,” Zayn replies, and kisses him on the forehead. “I love you too.”

\--

Niall being in on Zayn’s secret makes things easier for the both of them. Niall can easily cover for Zayn, and can come up with more believable excuses to Zayn’s recycled ones.

If anything, the Goblin attacks at the end of December were just a warm up. The attacks increased across January, February, and March. There was a bit of time in April where things seemed to slow down, but the Goblin still came back.

Zayn sees action against the Goblin at least twice a week, sometimes more. Niall’s mom almost wants to pull Niall out of school, but since there’s not much time left before graduation, she decides to let him stay.

Niall also takes the chance to move back in with his dad. Greg and Denise have had their hands full for the last couple of days, and Niall’s dad doesn’t need to be under such close watch all the time. He’s still not cleared to go back into duty, so Niall has one less person he needs to worry about.

The homework has slowed down now that they’re approaching the end of the year. Prom is around the corner, and Niall has been stuck on the committee making plans. There’s no way prom would’ve been inside their school gym, and they managed to raise money to host it at a nearby hotel.

Eleanor and Niall are both in charge, since they don’t trust anyone else on the student council to make the arrangements. Over the past year of working together on the newspaper and the yearbook, the pair have made themselves quite the team on this prom.

It’s barely a 3-star hotel, but it’s a lot nicer than an old, smelly gymnasium.

It’s finally the weekend, and Niall can take a break from all his student council duties. Zayn had asked Niall to meet him somewhere in Brooklyn. It’s an odd request, but Niall had gotten up early just to meet him in the exact spot that Zayn asked.

Niall doesn’t see Zayn anywhere, and figures he’s late, or he’s hidden in the crowd of people somewhere. There’s a lot of people walking by, and Niall can’t seem to spot him anywhere. Niall’s phone starts vibrating in his pocket, and when he takes it out he sees Zayn’s photo across the screen.

“Where are you?” Niall says into the phone.

“I got a little caught up in Spidey stuff,” Zayn replies. “But I need you to do one thing.”  
  
“Zayn?”

“Can you look up at the Brooklyn Bridge, maybe?” Zayn answers.

“I don’t really see how this—” Niall turns around, and looks at the bridge. There’s webbing across the thick of it, and it says _I love you_.

“Hey,” a voice says from behind him. Niall turns back around, and he sees Zayn, holding a bouquet of roses. “I know I’m a bit late on asking, but.”  
  
“Of course I’ll go to prom with you,” Niall basically runs into Zayn, hugging him, and nearly knocks the bouquet of roses out of his hands.  
  
“You didn’t even let me ask,” Zayn says, squeezing him tighter.

Niall doesn’t want to let go, even though he can hear the claps and cheers of random people passing by. He thinks they’re just happy for their ‘promposal,’ but when he unwraps his arms from around Zayn, he notices people taking pictures of the bridge.

“Wow, Spider-Man is a really nice guy,” one guy comments. “We love you too!”

“I should really go, though,” Zayn says, frowning. “Something’s about to happen.”

“Okay.” Niall nods, and kisses Zayn’s cheek. “I’ll see you later.”

Zayn never really explained it to him, but Niall guesses he has some sort of super sense when something’s about to happen. It explains why Zayn’s always there before the police, and why he leaves before they even arrive.

Niall turns around to look at the bridge again, looking at the words _I love you_ webbed into the bridge. All of New York seems to think Spidey’s feeling very neighborhood friendly today, but Niall gets this giddy feeling in his heart knowing that it’s just for him. He takes out his phone, and snaps a shot of the bridge, and posts it onto his Snapchat.

\--

It’s the last stretch of school and the seniors are starting to check out already. Finals are coming up, and everything is just about done with the last edition of the student newspaper.

Niall has a lot more free time on his hands, and it opens up time for him to help Zayn chase down any Goblin leads.

Zayn joins the group for lunch, and the hot topic today seems to be Spider-Man.

“Did you guys like my instagram post?” Harry asks, holding up his phone.

It’s a photo of the bridge, similar to the one Niall took himself. Harry slapped on some black and white filter, and it looks just about the same as the many posts Niall saw on various social media platforms. It even made the front page on _Buzzfeed_.

“Yeah, you and everyone in New York City posted the same fucking thing on instagram, Harry,” Louis says, rolling his eyes. “The same thing was on my feed the entire day.”

“I liked your instagram post, Harry.” Liam smiles. “I thought you had a good camera perspective.”  
  
“At least someone appreciates my work,” Harry huffs, and sticks his phone back into his pocket.

“I dunno, I think I preferred Niall’s snapchat.” Zayn smiles at the group, and when no one else is looking, shoots a quick wink over at Niall.

“Enough about Spider-Man,” Louis rolls his eyes. “Can we just focus on the fact that Zayn is here, eating lunch with us? I’ve missed Zayn.”

“Missed you too bro,” Zayn laughs, and flicks one of his peas at Louis. “That year long independent study project I had kept me really busy.” Zayn sighs.  

Niall’s the only one who knows that project doesn’t even exist. Or it does, just not in the form everyone thinks.

“Do we pick up our cap and gown next Friday?” Liam interrupts. Niall could’ve sworn they said on the announcement today, and everyone else just shrugs. 

The lunch bell rings, and everyone splits up to go in the direction of their classes. Graduation is the week after prom, and most of them are eager to get out of there already.

Zayn, Louis, Liam, and Eleanor all had solid plans on going to college in the fall, and Niall still hasn’t told anyone that he deferred at Empire State University. 

Niall sits in his physics class now, wondering what happens next. He kept pushing thoughts of the future to think about for later, but now that graduation is so close, Niall’s not too sure about where he’s even going in life.

\--

Prom came around quicker than Niall had expected. After so much planning and making sure the night would be up to the standards of the senior class of Midtown Science, Niall feels like he and the student council may have done a pretty good job.

Before they went to dinner, the group decided they’d take pictures at Harry’s place. They all take cheesy prom photos in front of Harry’s grand fireplace, and all their parents are there, gushing over how sharp dressed they all looked.

Liam and Harry didn’t have dates, and decided to go ‘stag’ together, while Louis was with Eleanor. Niall expected Zayn to run late, but he showed up on time, although his hair was still a little messed up from the Spider-Man mask.

Niall watches as Zayn introduces himself to all the parents. He’s obviously met Niall’s mom and dad already, but Zayn hasn’t known Liam and Louis that long. To everyone’s surprise, Harry’s dad was actually there.

“Mr. Styles,” Zayn shakes his hand, and from what Niall can see in Zayn’s reaction, it isn’t a good one. Niall watches as Zayn fakes a smile, and continues to introduce himself to Eleanor’s parents.

After all the formalities and photos, Niall takes the moment to talk to Zayn before they all have to go in the limo for dinner— some fancy place that Harry had made reservations for, which Niall doesn’t think they’ll get the chance to eat.

“You remember on New Year’s, when I said I had a weird feeling about being at Harry’s?” Zayn asks, voice low. Everyone else is busy admiring the limo to notice, but they’re not going to risk it.

“The goosebumps thing?” Niall remembers. Niall sort of dubbed Zayn’s ability to sense things as spidey-sense. Even though it sounded a bit lame at times, it was the only thing he could come up with.

“It’s Harry’s dad.” Zayn motions behind Niall, where Harry’s dad is standing with the other parents in front of the limo. “I think he’s the Goblin." 

“What?” Niall’s on the fence, but Harry’s dad also isn’t around very often. It might also explain the company trying to cover up that some of their tech was stolen, too. “I mean, it makes sense.”

“That feeling when I shook his hand.” Zayn looks back and forth between Niall and Harry’s dad, and sighs. “I know it’s him.”

“What are we going to do?” Niall asks. Like it or not, Niall was already in on Zayn with this. He’d been as much help over the last few months, and it’d probably throw the Goblin off since his identity would be revealed.

“We still have to go to dinner.” Zayn lets out a deep breath. “The Goblin wouldn’t do anything then, but from the Goblin’s patterns there will most likely be an attack tonight.”

“Do you think Harry knows?” Niall asks. Harry’s in front of the limo, messing around with Liam. He seems so carefree, and Niall can’t imagine him being a part of it.

“No, he’s probably just as in the dark as us. He and his dad don’t really have a good relationship.” Zayn sighs. “At least we know, now.”

\-- 

Niall tries his best to enjoy dinner, but it’s a bit hard when you remember that your superhero boyfriend is certain that the father of one of their best friends is the guy who’s been terrorizing New York.

Niall and Zayn make an excuse. As the student council president, it looks pretty legit and the rest of the group doesn’t even seem to notice.

They take a cab back to Harry’s knowing that it’s the first place Zayn had even felt something, even though Harry’s dad wasn’t there the first time.

Zayn ducks out to change into his Spidey suit, and they attempt a break in on the Styles’ house via the balcony. Niall watches as Zayn climbs up the side of the building, and he can only hope for the best.

Niall can’t see down much from below, and the street is too quiet. He takes a quick glance at his phone, seeing a few messages in the group chat asking where they are. Niall ignores them, and puts his phone back into his pocket.

He readjusts his tie, feeling it a little too tight around his neck. Niall’s nervous, and Zayn’s been up there for a while. If nothing has happened, maybe Harry’s dad isn’t the Goblin after all. From what Niall can remember, though, is that Zayn’s never wrong.

That’s when the explosion happens. When Niall’s least expecting it, and without even looking he runs to the other side of the street. There’s people coming out of the buildings around them, screaming and a few are probably calling 911 already.  
  
The hearing in one of his ears is off, and his suit is completely covered in dust from the explosion. Niall looks up into the sky, and he can see the Goblin, flying on his glider, with Zayn hanging by a thread behind him.

Niall doesn’t know what to do. He feels helpless on the ground, watching as the Goblin flies out of his eyesight. He starts running in no particular direction, and after a few blocks he decides to finally call Harry.

“Niall?” Harry says when he answers the phone. Niall can hear the loud sounds of the prom, and suddenly the line gets a little quieter. “Where are you?”  
  
“Fuck, Harry,” Niall says, trying to hide his frustration. “I don’t know any other way to tell you this.”  
  
“What’s wrong?” Harry replies, sounding very concerned.

“It’s—” Niall breathes, and tries to keep his voice calm, but he doesn’t think it’s going to work. “It’s your dad, he’s the Green Goblin.”

“No, that can’t be true,” Harry says back.

“Harry, just think about it,” Niall tells him. “They said the Goblin stole tech from your dad’s company and they covered it up.”  
  
“It’s not—” Harry starts.

“I just saw your building explode, Harry.” Niall regrets the way everything is happening, but he needs at least one more person to help him. “I need your help.”  
  
“What do you need?” Harry replies immediately— not even further questioning Niall’s comments about his dad.

“I need you to track your dad’s phone for me.” Niall stops at a random street corner, at a bus stop. He thinks he’s probably not that far from where the prom is, but Niall can’t go all the way there.

“Ok,” Harry says, sounding calmer now. “I’ll see what I can do and call you back.”  
  
“Thanks, Harry,” Niall says, and hangs up. At the bus stop, he notices a boy, maybe twelve or thirteen, holding a sports bag and wearing a baseball uniform. Niall has quite a bit of cash on him, so he does the only thing he thinks would be smart in this situation.

“Do you have a baseball bat in there?” Niall asks. He’s a bit desperate.

“Yeah,” the kid shrugs. “Why?”

“I’ll give you two hundred and fifty bucks for it.” Niall’s already getting the cash out of his wallet, and the kid doesn’t even reply, and hands him the bat for the cash.

“Thanks, dude,” the kid replies.    
  
Niall can’t even think about how weird he looks right now, walking around the city with a dusty looking suit, and carrying a baseball bat with him. Niall can’t compete with the Goblin in a fight, but he’s going to do his best to help Zayn in whatever way he can.

After twenty minutes, he finally gets a text back from Harry. He’s managed to trace his dad’s cell, and it’s actually moving towards an storage warehouse not too far from him. Niall leaves his GPS open, and starts running. He can’t match their pace, but he’ll manage to get there at some point.

The closer he gets, the more screams he starts to hear. He runs towards the sounds, while he passes by people running in the opposite direction. Niall hears a few guys screaming to run the other way, because of the Goblin.

Niall gets to the center of it. The Goblin and Spider-Man are having a face down in the middle of the street, and there’s a number of cars that have already been crashed or thrown into buildings. Zayn’s losing, and the Goblin is on top of him now, crushing him with the weight of a car. 

Niall figures he has two options. Wait for the police to arrive— if they’re even going to come this way, or take matters into his own hands. It’s probably the dumbest thing Niall’s ever done in his life. So he starts running.

Niall pushes past more people, and he keeps running. The Goblin’s too focused on killing Spider-Man, on killing Zayn, that Niall finds the right opportunity to sneak up behind him, and hits him in the back of the head with the baseball bat. 

The Goblin pushes Niall back, and Niall falls down on to the concrete of the street, hard. With the Goblin distracted, Zayn manages to get out from under the car, and pushes the Goblin to other side of the street.

“Are you crazy?” Zayn yells through the mask. “Get out of here!”

The Goblin moves to get back up again, but instead of going for Zayn, he goes for his glider, and ends up flying straight towards Niall.

Before Niall or Zayn can even react, the Goblin grabs a hold of Niall’s arm, and he can’t feel the ground anymore. The wind hits Niall’s face, and he can see Zayn on the ground, and watches as the city starts to look smaller. Niall has to close his eyes and mentally repeat to himself not to look down. 

The Goblin sets him down on the top of a very high-rise building, and Niall scrambles to move towards the middle of the roof. The further away he is from the edge, the better.

Zayn arrives not long after, and before Niall can get away, the Goblin grabs a hold of him again.

“You’re not going to do this.” Zayn takes off his mask and looks at the Goblin. Just a few hours ago, they were all taking prom pictures with their friends, and Harry’s dad, of all people, is trying to kill them.

Niall’s arm starts to hurt, and the Goblin tightens his grip. The Goblin pushes him back towards the edge of the building, and Niall focuses on Zayn. Out of all the life-threatening situations he’s been through this year, this might well be Niall’s last attempt to escape death.

“Don’t do this,” Zayn pleads with the Goblin, but it’s no luck. Harry’s dad and Goblin personas were impossible for either of them to reach to.

Zayn puts his mask back on, and Niall watches as the Goblin reaches down to his belt, reaching for a weapon. It’s a small bomb, and Niall’s seen it being thrown during various Goblin attacks. He tries to wiggle out of the Goblin’s grip one last time, but the Goblin doesn’t budge.

Zayn screams something that Niall can’t understand, and Niall feels his foot slip at the edge of the building. The Goblin lets go of his arm, and Niall tries to reach and grab the ledge with his hands, but he misses.

Niall’s falling, and he’s falling fast. There’s nothing else he can grab onto. Niall closes his eyes, fully accepting that if he hits the ground, he’s definitely not going to make it. Niall can hear the screams of people below him, and he can no longer spot Zayn or the Goblin anywhere. 

Niall feels the impact of something taking hold of him around his stomach, and his body lurches in an uncomfortable spot. Niall’s afraid to even open his eyes, and he can hear the sounds of people clapping.

“Niall,” he hears Zayn whisper. “Fuck.”  
  
Niall’s feet touch the ground now, and he’s able to support himself standing up. There’s police and a crowd of people gathering around, but not for them.

The Goblin’s mask is off and exposed. He’s cuffed, and struggling to get out of the grip of the police officers who have him in custody. The people start chanting Spider-Man’s name, and Zayn picks up Niall again, and the two swing out of there. Niall can’t tell where they’re going, but he holds onto Zayn tightly. 

They’re on the roof, back where they had their first date. It took them a while to get there, and Zayn takes off his mask again. Niall didn’t expect their Senior Prom to end up like this.

“We did it,” Niall breathes out. “He’s gone.”

“He tried to inject me with something,” Zayn tells him, and makes a motion with his hands. “I moved, and he ended up putting the needle in himself, and that’s when he started to look like Harry’s dad again.”  
  
“What?” Niall asks, confused. “Like some sort of Hulk transformation?”  
  
“Maybe.” Zayn shrugs. “We’ll probably never know.”

Zayn takes Niall home, and after that, Niall doesn’t see Zayn anywhere anymore.  
  
He didn’t disappear entirely, he’s still walking around the halls at school, somewhere. Niall only had two classes with him, and now that it’s the end of the school year it’s easily avoidable. Most seniors are skipping their classes now that graduation is here.

Zayn doesn’t text. He doesn’t call. Niall doesn’t see any reports of Spider-Man, anywhere. After the Goblin, it seems like there’s been low activity. 

Niall tries not to be mad. But he is. The _both_ of them almost died that night. Now Zayn can’t even look at him. 

He doesn’t understand Zayn’s reasoning, or why he doesn’t want to see him anymore. They’ve been through too much to throw it all away, and Niall’s not going to give up that easily. Niall tries to track down Zayn at every opportunity in school, but it’s like Zayn knows what he’s trying to do. 

It’s especially frustrating when his friends are doing their best to help out, but Niall doesn’t want everyone trying to fix their problems for them.

\--

Zayn doesn’t show up for graduation. He’s the salutatorian, but they ended up scrapping the salutatorian speech entirely from the ceremony since Zayn didn’t participate.  

The school made them sit in alphabetical order, so he’s not sitting anywhere near his friends. They’re all scattered apart, except for Eleanor, who’s sitting near the front because of her speech.

The ceremony is three hours long, and there’s a huge round of applause when Eleanor delivers her valedictorian speech. Niall watches as Louis makes his way up to the side of the stage, and holds his phone up to take a video of Eleanor. Niall can hear a couple of ‘aww’s from some of the attendees.

After everyone receives their diploma covers and toss their hats in the air, it’s finally over.

High school is over.

The last four years of late nights, putting off work, and finally getting the courage to talk to his crush, and now it’s all gone.

Niall, Liam, Louis, and Eleanor all take group photos together at graduation. It’s weird, because they started the year together, and both Zayn and Harry had skipped out on the festivities all together. Their group doesn’t feel complete, and Niall wishes that they were here. 

Niall’s mom takes what he thinks is a billion photos, and by the end of it Niall’s cheeks hurt from his mom and the other parents to smile so much.

Harry left, and no one knows where. They knew he wasn’t going to come, since his family lived too far out. They weren’t sure if Zayn was coming at all, and it was a 50/50 guess.

Niall shows up at Zayn’s place after the ceremony waiting at his door. He’s out of breath, since he did run here from the school. Zayn’s aunt is at work, and his sisters are gone, somewhere, so it’s only a matter of time before Zayn comes to the door.

He knocks for the fifth time, and Zayn finally answers. There are bags under his eyes, and it looks like he hasn’t slept for days.

“You didn’t come to graduation,” Niall says, trying not to sound angry. “Everyone was there.”  
  
“Not Harry,” Zayn replies.  

“You were supposed to make a speech.” Niall sighs. “I was going to take a video of it and show it to everyone, like Louis and Eleanor.”  
  
“Niall, I can’t. I can’t,” Zayn says, and his voice starts breaking. “I can’t.”  
  
“What do you mean?”

“I can’t see you anymore.” Zayn’s voice is firm now, but Niall can see the tears build up in his eyes. “I can’t.”

Niall keeps himself from breaking out into a sob in front of Zayn. He’s trying his best to hold himself together, and he can’t even come up with a response to say back to Zayn. He turns his back, and starts walking down the hallway of Zayn’s apartment building.

He only gets down halfway before he stops in his tracks, and turns around one last time.

Zayn’s still standing in the doorway, and he’s been looking at Niall this entire time.

“Goodbye, Zayn.”

***  
  
Graduation has come and gone, and it’s already been a week into summer break. Zayn’s been moping, swinging around the city and trying to avoid Louis’ calls and texts. It’s also been a week since he broke up with Niall, and Zayn feels it’s in his best interests. Niall is a lot safer being apart from Zayn. He doesn’t know if he can take the stress of constantly worrying about what’s going to happen.

Zayn’s uncle died a few years back, and it still haunts Zayn at every moment. He can’t be there every time to save someone, and maybe one day it would be too late for Niall. Zayn can’t lose him.  
  
He’s at home alone now, sending some pictures of Spider-Man to _The Bugle_. Zayn’s going to start college in the fall, so he might as well start saving now. Zayn puts all his attention into editing his photos, and barely notices when there’s a knock on his bedroom door.

It’s Louis.

“How’d you get in here?” Zayn asks, taking his headphones off.

“Met up with Doniya and she gave me the key,” Louis says, tossing it at him. “Says you’ve been moping.”  
  
Zayn shrugs. It’s whatever. Louis was always Niall’s friend first, so Zayn can’t figure out why he’s here.

“I don’t want him to get hurt,” Zayn says, avoiding Louis’ eyes.

“Yeah, but you’ve done the exact opposite,” Louis tells him, with no harsh tone in his voice at all. “He’s leaving today, you know.” 

“He’s leaving?”

“Yeah, he’s going out to L.A. for the summer. He’s doing the music thing,” Louis says. “If you leave now, you can probably catch him at his dad’s.”  
  
Zayn takes this as his sign. Niall’s about to leave, and Zayn’s probably not going to see him again for God knows how long. He’s already changing into a new pair of pants, and runs out of his room without saying goodbye to Louis.

He didn’t take his web shooters, which was probably a bad idea. Zayn’s a fast runner now, but it would help him to get to Niall’s place on time. Niall’s dad didn’t live that far away, and that place didn’t have a snooty doorman who was rude to Zayn every time he came by.

Zayn’s old shoes are loud when they slap against the pavement, and he’s definitely getting a lot of weird looks from the people passing by on the street. He can see the building now, and Zayn picks up his speed.

He reaches the door of the building, and he can see Bobby through the glass pane of the door. Zayn starts knocking on it, hoping to catch his attention.

To Zayn’s luck, Bobby turns around, but the look on his face doesn’t seem good.

“He’s gone already, isn’t he?” Zayn says as Bobby opens the door.

Bobby gives him an empathetic look, and Zayn leans against the building. Zayn doesn’t know how long he stood there for, but he watches as Bobby waves goodbye and goes back into the building.

Zayn takes out his cellphone and tries his luck calling Niall. If anything, he’s probably going through security at the airport.

The phone rings. 

And rings. 

“We're sorry, the number you have dialed is not in service. Please check the number and try your call again.”


End file.
